Jimmy Page has announced the release of a spoken-word album titled Catalyst, containing eight poems by artist Scarlett Sabet.

The Led Zeppelin icon produced the work by his girlfriend, who’s previously published four collections of poems and given readings around the world. It’s available on Jimmy Page Records.

“I knew Scarlett’s poems were exceptionally vibrant in print and I had witnessed the power of her public readings,” he said in a statement. “I thought it would be exciting to do a project together to emphasize the power of the spoken word in the context of poetry and present her work in a radical form.”

Catalyst was recorded and produced at Page’s Tower House home in London using both analog and digital equipment. It’s packaged with a 24-page booklet and an etched vinyl portrait of Sabet, with photography by Page’s daughter Scarlet. A signed edition, limited to 156 copies, is also on sale.

The album is also available at digital outlets.

Earlier this year, Sabet told HungerTV how she’d been influenced by artists including William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. “I feel those beat generation writers were truly courageous, and really living to their own principles," she said. "They upheld their art above all else, and were ravenous in their explorations socially, sexually, culturally. They have been so influential, and I feel perhaps that hasn’t been fully recognized.”

Arguing that poetry could change the world, she noted that it "filters into our consciousness. And our diets are so important -- not just what we eat and drink, but what we watch, what we read, what we listen to, we gradually absorb. I think a poet’s responsibility is to be of service, and also hold up a mirror to our times, socially, politically, whilst incorporating the individual experience, the mundane, the disappointment, desire, reflection.”

Scarlett Sabet, 'Catalyst’ Track Listing
1. “Rocking Underground”
2. “Cut Up”
3. “Euphoric Kiss”
4. “The Fifth Circle Of Hell”
5. “Possession”
6. “And My Lungs Fill with Ecstatic Song”
7. “For Jack”
8. “Cut Up (multiple return)”

 

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