Star on song for Poet Laureate’s new work

ACTOR FLORENCE Pugh has lent her voice to a Simon Armitage poem set to music in aid of domestic violence charity Refuge.

Pugh, who was nominated for an Oscar for her turn as Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s version of Little Women, joins band LYR, which is made up of Poet Laureate Armitage, Richard Walters and Patrick J Pearson, for a recording of his recent poem Lockdown.

Recorded remotely at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, it is the first time Pugh has contributed both spoken word and vocals to a song.

The poem, which was written in response to the coronavirus restrictions, moves from the outbreak of bubonic plague in Eyam, Derbyshire, in the 17th century – when cloth sent from London brought fleas carrying the plague – to the poem Meghaduta, by the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, which follows the legend in which an exile sends words of reassurance to his wife in the Himalayas via a passing cloud.

It was set to music by LYR, who recorded each track in isolation, with guest vocals from Ms Pugh and saxophone from Melt Yourself Down’s Pete Wareham.

Mr Armitage, from Mardsen near Huddersfield, said: “We’ve worked flat out from three points of the compass – the song has been accomplished via the wonders of technology, the internet being no respecter of quarantine rules.”

The decision to give proceeds from the track, released digitally via Mercury KX, to Refuge was prompted by news of a sharp increase in demand for the charity’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline since the UK entered lockdown on March 26.

Refuge said it was “enormously thankful”.