The Plural Atmosphere
The limited edition physical copies are SOLD OUT. Now available exclusively as a PDF download for $5 here
The Plural Atmosphere can also be purchased bundled with Jonathan Fire*Eater’s record Tremble Under Boom Lights.
The Plural Atmosphere is a 45 page, limited edition, Risograph printed chapbook of selected poems by Stewart Lupton. Although Lupton is best known for being the singer and lyricist for seminal New York City band Jonathan FireEater, his love for language was always evident in his songs and also the poems he increasingly wrote and turned toward during his life. In close collaboration with Lupton’s estate, friends, and former bandmates, Third Man Books is honored and humbled to be a part of realizing Lupton’s longtime wish to publish a collection of his poems. Being released at the same time as the reissue of the album Tremble Under Boom Lights by Jonathan FireEater (Third Man Records), The Plural Atmosphere is a first collection of poems by Stewart Lupton, a collection that will undoubtedly define Lupton’s legacy as a poet with that already as a songwriter and musician.
The very first photo in Lizzy Goodman’s recent oral history, Meet Me In The Bathroom, is of Stewart Lupton smoking a cigarette, framed by enormous angel wings. It’s a fitting image to begin Goodman’s story of New York’s rock rebirth in the early 2000s—a story that really began several years earlier, when the Lupton-fronted Jonathan Fire*Eater first emerged… — AV Club
Stewart (Lupton) had genius, but what first made the world notice him was his daring. The sorrow tied to that quality has been mentioned in obituaries, for he gave most things a try, narcotics among them. But the joy of it was what he said, sang, explored, and wrote, when others wouldn’t — T.A Frank, Vanity Fair
Lupton offered tea, flipped the Dead Moon record spinning on the turntable, then gave me a lovely tour through his mess, telling me about the times he’d met Patti Smith and John Ashbery, and how the poetry of Italian philosopher Giacomo Leopardi reminded him of Elliott Smith … (Lupton) had read all of those poetry books strewn across the living room floor. Listen to the lyrics of “Cheekbone Hollows,” a song that creates a scene worthy of Leonard Cohen, but with a Rolling Stones riff shaking its tail in the background — Chris Richards, Washington Post.
Author:
Stewart Lupton
Born in 1975, Stewart Lupton was the lead singer in Jonathan Fire*Eater, The Child Ballads, and The Beatings, traveling and performing around the world from 1994-2009. Lupton began writing poetry and song lyrics in 1992, and was awarded the Lannan Fellowship for Poetry in 2008. Lupton died in 2018. The Plural Atmosphere (Third Man Books, 2019) is the first time his poetry has been collected.
