“Those who knew Ian Curtis say that he would have been a writer if it weren’t for the band [Joy Division]. His lyrics reference Gogol (“Dead Souls”), Kafka (“Colony”), Burroughs (“Interzone”). When he and his wife moved into their home in Macclesfield, they immediately refurbished a room as his writing space. Blue carpet, blue walls, and a blue sofa, upon which Curtis would sit with cigarette and notebook.”

The Alien and the Intimate - Esther Yi on So This Is Permanence: Lyrics and Notebooks