Iron Horse by Youth & Allen Ginsberg is a new album that reimagines and sound tracks Ginsberg's epic spoken word poem 'Iron Horse'.
The poem is a poignant snapshot of countercultural 1966 America, documenting a summer journey across the United States by train, through Ginsberg’s lens of laser sharp detail. The poem itself has previously only ever been released in a limited run by City Lights Books in 1974.
Recorded by Youth in the Andalusian mountains in Spain during the hard lockdown of Autumn 2021, the new album sees sounds weave in discourse with Ginsberg’s narration of his encounter with some young soldiers headed to the Vietnam War and features a haunting vocal refrain by Siobhan Fahey. The ambient soundscape, including a remix by The Orb, poignantly captures the ebb and flow of the poem and the rhythm of the train and transports us on a psychedelic journey through the darkness and beauty of the Summer of 1966.
'The album falls somewhere between KLF's Chill Out and Ash Ra Temple's cosmic ambient drone and is my homage to Ginsberg's pioneering rebel spirit, his poetry and his influence on the world and myself' - Youth
