Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life

Today, Anthology Editions announces Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life — a landmark publication celebrating the life and work of the beloved late American musician and composer Arthur Russell — written by critically acclaimed writer Richard King, to be released April 18th, 2024. Travels Over Feeling paints a portrait of Arthur Russell unlike anything that has come before, revealing a true picture of one of the most distinctive and influential artists of the last 50 years. Travels Over Feeling will be published in the United Kingdom by Faber.

The book combines largely unseen visual materials—handwritten scores, lyrics, photos, letters, and drawings—pulled from Russell’s archives at the New York Public Library as well as the personal collections of close confidants with new texts by King and extensive original interviews with Arthur’s collaborators, contemporaries, family, and friends. “Uncovering the riches of Arthur’s archives was as immersive and intimate an experience as listening to his music. I have endeavored to produce a book that provides the reader with a similar sense of discovery and wonder,” says King.

Russell’s eclectic music was often marked by adventurous production choices and his unique voice, defying classification. Pitchfork has said, “his distinctive music has the rare resilience to keep growing, connecting to more and more people because of its extraordinarily contemporary, even timeless, quality.” From his pioneering compositions as part of the Downtown NYC avant-garde scene (alongside the likes of Philip Glass, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Allen Ginsberg) to his genre-expanding disco productions, from his new wave and art pop to his posthumously released folk songs, Russell crafted enduring and foundationally influential work until his premature death in 1992 from AIDS-related illnesses.

Faber will host a very special event at The Barbican in London on May 25, 2024 celebrating the life and work of Arthur Russell and the publication of Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, A Life. Speakers Corner Quartet (bassist Peter Bennie, drummer Kwake Bass, flutist Biscuit, and violinist Raven Bush) will join forces with cellist and ambient pop artist Lucinda Chua. The evening will also feature a few special guests, yet to be announced. Tickets will go on sale on November 24 here.

Richard King is the author of Original Rockers (shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and a Rough Trade and Times Book of the Year), How Soon Is Now? (Sunday Times Music Book of the Year), The Lark Ascending (a Rough Trade and Evening Standard Book of the Year, shortlisted for the Penderyn Prize) and, most recently, Brittle with Relics: A History of Wales, 1962–97, all published by Faber & Faber. He is the current Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media & Culture. More information is available at richardhywelking.com.