I’ll Start A Fire (18/5/21)

I’ll Start A Fire (18/5/21)

by Laura Kidd Creativity Homepage Feature Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

Release date: 18th May 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings

GET THE SONG

+ Click to download pay what you want/can from Bandcamp.
+ Get three album tracks immediately when you pre-order my new album “Exotic Monsters” with a download
+ Join The Correspondent’s Club and get all Penfriend singles as part of membership
+ Type “penfriend I’ll start a fire” into your digital music platform of choice.


ABOUT THE SONG

“I’ll Start A Fire” is a song about causing a ruckus even while everything is going wrong, cutting bad connections and ignoring all the noise in order to be free and express ourselves honestly. Taking whatever personal power we still have and making something with it, stopping ourselves from stopping ourselves. 

As soon as I’ve decided I’ve got all the songs lined up for an album, I can rely on one or two cheeky musical ideas to come along and demand my attention. 

“I’ll Start A Fire” was the first of two songs I wrote in September 2020 that jostled for a space on the record (the second was “Black Car”), and I’m so glad they did. 

Giving yourself permission to be you can be one of the hardest things, and has really been a process for me, but it’s brought great joy and fulfilment to my life in recent years. I highly recommend giving it a try.

CREDITS

Written, produced, performed and recorded by Laura Kidd at The Launchpad, Bristol. Drums by Max Saidi. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Artwork by Alex Tillbrook, concept by Laura Kidd.

LYRICS

I stole a car in a dream
And now I’m feeling paranoid
Well I spent so long ignoring my instincts
Now I’m searching to destroy

I’ll start a fire while the world burns
I’ll start a fire, I’ll start a fire

So I sink these heavy words in a diary
And take them all to heart
Gonna build myself a fortress of vanity
And then I’ll fall apart

I’ll start a fire while the world burns
I’ll cut connections while the planet turns
I’ll start a fire cos it seems we’re elbow deep
In cheap banalities
I’ll start a fire, I’ll start a fire

I’ll start a fire while the world burns
I’ll cut connections while the planet turns
I’ll start a fire cos it seems we’re elbow deep
In cheap banalities
I’ll start a fire, I’ll start a fire

THANK YOU for visiting my website! I’m Laura Kidd, a music producer, songwriter and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. It’s great to meet you.

+ Get your copy of my new album “Exotic Monsters” right here.

+ Get two free songs immediately when you sign up for thoughtful letters about art and music.

+ Browse episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer” here and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo


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Seventeen (23/4/21)

Seventeen (23/4/21)

by Laura Kidd Creativity Homepage Feature Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

Release date: 23rd April 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings

GET THE SONG

+ Click to download pay what you want/can from Bandcamp.
+ Get three album tracks immediately when you pre-order my new album “Exotic Monsters” with a download
+ Join The Correspondent’s Club and get all Penfriend singles as part of membership
+ Type “penfriend seventeen” into your digital music platform of choice.


“Cavernous as its darkly-elliptical tale unfolds, “Seventeen” careens with compassion” – The Autumn Roses

“An enormous pop-rock anthem with a heart-throttlingly poignant story [by] Penfriend aka singer/songwriter/producer/genius example of how to do independent musicianship right, Laura Kidd” – Loud Women (single of the week)

ABOUT THE SONG

Seventeen. Is there a more complicated age? Not quite yet an adult, but impatient to be treated like one; navigating an avalanche of new experiences and urgent emotions, dismissed by the grownups as “teenage angst” or “just a phase”. An exhausting quest to negotiate a new space for ourselves, juggling the interests of parents, teachers and friends while not knowing to question their motives. 

This song is an excavation, a letting go, an act of self-forgiveness.

Traumatic events from the past can feel just as fresh, years later, the ghosts of our former selves creeping up to tap us on the shoulder with icy fingers. 

Sometimes we need to package up our memories with tidy words to dispel the haunting. 

Sometimes we just need to stop blaming ourselves. 

Sometimes writing songs is like painstakingly sculpting sounds from thin air; other times they arrive in a whoosh, fighting to be heard. “Seventeen” appeared on a summer Saturday evening, falling out of me in jagged swathes.

Facing up to our ghosts isn’t a pleasant experience, but this song helped me over a major stumbling block from my past, bringing me a fresh perspective and new freedom. 

CREDITS

Written, produced, performed and recorded by Laura Kidd at The Launchpad, Bristol. Drums by Max Saidi. Piano arranged by Laura Kidd, performed and recorded by Catherine Anne Davies. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Artwork by Alex Tillbrook, concept by Laura Kidd.

LYRICS

Happy birthday, time to say goodbye
Such a big girl, keep all this inside
Dial back those dreams
Wishing impossible things
Bursting your seams
It hurts when we grow

Tell me what you wanted
I was seventeen
Tell me I deserved it
Because I was seventeen

Toxic teens on mixtape afternoons
Photostatic memories of you
Fold paper planes
Pull them apart when it rains
Smash windowpanes
Stretching our wings alone

Tell me what you wanted
I was seventeen
Tell me I deserved it
I was seventeen
Tell me it was all my fault
I was seventeen
Tell me you remember

Tell me what you wanted
I was seventeen
Tell me I deserved it
I was seventeen
Give me a good reason
I was seventeen
Tell me you’re so sorry
I was seventeen

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ I make a podcast called “Attention Engineer”, where I speak to fellow artists about creativity, grit and determination. Visit this page to find out more.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Obey Robots – “Inside Out” (2/4/20)

Obey Robots – “Inside Out” (2/4/20)

by Laura Kidd Homepage Feature Letterbox Releases Singles


Release date: 2nd April 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings


GET THE SONG

+ Get the song on pay what you want / can download from Bandcamp now
+ Pre-order limited edition pink 7″ vinyl / CD singles


ABOUT THE SONG

The second song from Obey Robots, my collaboration project with Rat (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin), “Inside Out” started off as a shimmering acoustic guitar idea that Rat demoed and saved in a folder he called “Maybe send to Laura”. I’m very glad he did send it to me! After sharing the punchy riffs of “Let It Snow” with you at the end of 2020, we wanted to conjure a different mood, so I encouraged Rat to layer up the guitars while I went off to write the melody, lyrics and cello parts. 

This song is about dealing with the new groundhog-day-normal many of us have been experiencing for the past year: the highs, mediums and lows of a life made much smaller by circumstance. Ravelling and unravelling at different speeds to those around us, perhaps: trying to feel a semblance of forward motion; trying to remember what the point is. Deciding to keep hoping.

With musicians having to wait for in-person work to be possible again, it felt like the right time to get back in touch with my A-Level Music pal David Lale, who has played for the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 8 years. I always knew he’d go far!

David played the parts beautifully, of course, and added some extra touches in the instrumental to take it to new heights. It was a lovely opportunity to work together for the first time since we arranged Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” for a school concert back in the day. Thank you, David.

Fun fact: the original working title of this song was “Spider_Capo”. Rat, ever the fan of using different tunings but lacking the will to actually tune his guitars alternately, clearly needed to get a new toy. A novice attempt at using the spider capo (a piece of equipment strongly resembling a torture device) resulted in the basic melodic chords being written for the song that would become “Inside Out”.

CREDITS

Written by Pring / Kidd. Produced by Laura Kidd. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Guitar performed and recorded by Rat. Cello arrangement by Laura Kidd. Cello performed and recorded by David Lale.

Image by bamenny from Pixabay


LYRICS 

Lifelines are melting away
Handing off to the people we pay
Shy to communicate
Counting days til we can get more interesting

I’m replacing fear with doubt
But I’m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But I’m still turning inside, inside out

Nightmares and reveries
All my dreams now deliver to sea
Trust in my memories
Counting weeks til we can get more interesting

I’m replacing fear with doubt
But I’m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But I’m still turning inside, inside out

I’m replacing fear with doubt
But I’m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But I’m still turning inside, inside out

I’ve been letting the good side down
But I’m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But I’m still turning inside, inside out

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer” are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Black Car (“Exotic Monsters”)

Black Car (“Exotic Monsters”)

by Laura Kidd Creativity Homepage Feature Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

To my great delight and excitement, this song is featured as “The Weather” on “Cecil in The Big City”, Episode 208 of the Welcome To Night Vale podcast, 15th May 2022. A huge honour!


GET THE SONG

+ Tap to download pay what you want/can from Bandcamp
+ Get it on vinyl/CD/download as part of my latest album “Exotic Monsters”
+ Join The Correspondent’s Club and get all Penfriend singles as part of membership


Release date: 26th March 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings


ABOUT THE SONG

“Black Car” is a song about love and death, guilt and gratitude, taking time to figure out what’s most important, feeling desperately sad and isolated and grieving the loss of so many. Dealing with anger and frustration at the UK government for making so many missteps. Trying to keep on keeping on, while finding it hard to see a way out of this, however many “roadmaps” are announced. Accepting – and feeling – our feelings.

“That this single release marks the first anniversary of the first UK lockdown is an accident, but sometimes things just fall into place like that when we focus on what’s important to us. Throughout this loneliest of years, I’ve tried to keep connected to humanity through making and releasing new music, podcast episodes and my weekly emails, doing what I can to create pinpoints of light in dark times. With all the gratitude in the world, I have to remind myself it’s still ok to feel wounded by what’s been going on and to feel scared about what’s to come. We will all be changed by this experience, and at the root of everything is the love we have for others.”

I don’t know what other bands “Black Car” sounds like, or have any clever phrases lined up to entreat you to click “play”. This is an honest, melancholy song about a universal experience that will be discussed in the history books of the future, guitars and synths centred around a heady electronic heartbeat, with a reverent Kurt Vonnegut reference (“loving echoes”) in the middle.

Keep your loved ones close x

CREDITS

Written, produced, performed and recorded by Laura Kidd at The Launchpad, Bristol. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Artwork by Alex Tillbrook, concept by Laura Kidd.

LYRICS

Remember the summer when everyone stayed at home?
Ships in a bottle, stacked up with our lives on hold

If we could really see the warnings that were written before
If we could really feel
Our hearts would smash all over the floor

Hear me now, I can feel the thunder
March me out with the fallen number
Will there be – is there a black car waiting for me?
Keep your loved ones close

This is surviving, but we’re having a god damn year
Tired of climbing, but the universe left us here

And on my worst of days
I want to keep wanting to be kind
But everywhere I see machines are taking over our minds

Hear me now, I can feel the thunder
March me out with the fallen number
Will there be – is there a black car waiting for me?
Keep your loved ones close

Keep your loved ones close
Even on calm waters, waves will rise
As my heart explodes
Loving echoes dancing in my eyes

Keep your loved ones close
Keep your loves ones close
Keep your loved ones close

Hear me now, I can feel the thunder
March me out with the fallen number
Will there be – is there a black car waiting?

Hear me now, I can feel the thunder
March me out with the fallen number
Will there be –
Is there a black car waiting for me?

Keep your loved ones close

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club to receive it alongside other member perks.

+ I upload a new video every week to my YouTube channel on music, mindful productivity and adventure.

+ My creativity podcast “Attention Engineer” now has 50 episodes – visit this page to listen on your favourite platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Cancel Your Hopes (5/3/21)

Cancel Your Hopes (5/3/21)

by Laura Kidd Creativity Homepage Feature Letterbox Music News Releases Singles


Release date: 5th March 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings

GET THE SONG

+ Click to download pay what you want/can from Bandcamp.
+ Get “Cancel Your Hopes” plus two more songs when you pre-order my new album “Exotic Monsters”
+ Join The Correspondent’s Club and get all Penfriend singles as part of membership
+ Type “penfriend cancel your hopes” into your digital music platform of choice.


ABOUT THE SONG

The song that took 15 years to write…sort of. 

“Cancel Your Hopes” is about doing everything you were told was right and then realising the world’s going to end despite your best efforts. Left stranded by those who were once the grownups, our mission is to keep trying to appreciate the incredible fact of simply existing in this beautiful world, while attempting to navigate the toxic parts of technology, live a meaningful life of use to others, love deeply and learn to accept love, leaving as little negative trace on the planet as possible while doing so. 

In June 2019 I spent several hours enjoying Radiohead’s “Minidiscs [Hacked]” – a collection of demos and live recordings released on Bandcamp after they were somehow stolen. The experience was very moving – intimate, almost too fly-on-the-wall nosey – and a handy reminder that even the greatest bands on the planet have to work to create their art. 

I started to feel guilty for listening to someone else’s ideas archive when I had my own gathering dust in the corner of my studio. I started working through my own minidisc collection, listening through to snippets of ideas from my early days of writing, and was excited to come across a riff and chords idea from 2005 which became “Cancel Your Hopes”. I used the chorus melody from the original recording, wordless apart from the phrase “fucking beautiful”, which I also kept because it created such a key moment of intensity in that melodic line. I rarely swear in song, but sometimes there is no other option. 

The same week, I’d finished having my mind blown apart by Barbara Kingsolver’s beautiful, devastating novel “Flight Behaviour”. While reading I’d scribbled copious notes: scraps of words and phrases that resonated with me from the book plus thoughts, feelings and phrases of my own sparked by her writing. 

The music and words soon collided with a joyous bang. 

When I was at school I remember teachers and the newspapers saying we were going to have to deal with the effects of global warming in 15 years time…then everything seemed to go quiet. It’s an understatement to say there is work to do, but I want to believe in a future for this messy, complicated, potentially wonderful species. 

CREDITS

Written, produced, performed and recorded by Laura Kidd at The Launchpad, Bristol. Drums by Max Saidi. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Artwork by Alex Tillbrook, concept by Laura Kidd.

LYRICS

Cancel your hopes, dear 
Do you remember when this was all fields? 
Boys in the boardroom backslapping their deals 
There’s a hole in our bucket, dear Liza – a hole 

Walk the high wire with no mind for the crash 
Are we in denial or do we crave collapse? 
Can’t look strangers in the eye 
Is that cos we are terrified? 

Cos you know that we said forever 
And you see that there’s nothing left 
So let’s stand til we all fall over 
Take my hand cos it’s so fucking beautiful 

Cancel your hopes, please 
The planet’s on fire while we’re stroking our screens 
Buy better headphones to muffle their screams 
There’s a hole in our bucket 
And everyone knows 

Walk the high wire with no mind for the crash 
Are we in denial or do we crave collapse? 
Won’t look strangers in the eye 
Is that cos we are dead inside? 

Cos you know that we said forever 
And you see that there’s nothing left 
So let’s stand til we all fall over 
Take my hand cos it’s so fucking beautiful 

Now I see that we’re going under 
But I know that there’s nothing else 
So as long as we stand together 
Take my hand cos you’re so fucking beautiful

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer” are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Exotic Monsters (22/1/21)

Exotic Monsters (22/1/21)

by Laura Kidd Creativity Homepage Feature Letterbox Music News Releases Singles



Release date: 22nd January 2021
Label: My Big Sister Recordings

GET THE SONG

+ Click to download pay what you want/can from Bandcamp.
+ Get “Exotic Monsters” plus all previous Penfriend singles when you join The Correspondent’s Club (free and paid tiers available).
+ Type “penfriend exotic monsters” into your digital music platform of choice.


ABOUT THE VIDEO

“We’re more connected than ever, yet we’re becoming more polarised. The pandemic promised a coming together of communities yet, as the third UK lockdown grinds grimly on, the people in my area of Bristol have battened down the proverbial hatches. It’s easy to feel like we live on a different planet from our fellow humans sometimes, so with this video I wanted to bring the artwork for the single to life, to suggest that perhaps the monsters we perceive to be all around us are more similar to us than different.

I spent 20 hours constructing 3D paper masks, set up a green screen in my living room and used up two of my daily exercise sessions to create this oddball trip into my imagination. Enjoy!”

ABOUT THE SONG

Penfriend, aka music producer, songwriter and multi-disciplinary artist Laura Kidd, presents “Exotic Monsters“.

Sparked by a throwaway phrase from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “Exotic Monsters” is a laundry list of asynchronous human needs and desires; a reflection of our increasingly confused, disconnected and polarised lives. A timely reminder of the practice of cultivating gratitude through meditation, the song is an attempt to examine our internalised inconsistencies; the “facts” we pile up on our own backs throughout lives bombarded by airbrushed images and ads for the unattainable baubles we’re informed are essential for true happiness.

Shackled to our phones by big tech companies monetising and eroding our attention spans, feeling increasingly as though we live on a different planet to those we disagree with, chasing likes on social media while forgetting to look after our brains and our hearts…where will this all end? Some days it’s hard to believe late MP Jo Cox’s poignant words, that “we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”.

Addressing this sense of disconnection and depersonalisation, “Exotic Monsters” evokes the menace of “Enjoy The Silence”-era Depeche Mode with a nod to the 80s- Madonna hero worship of Sky Ferreira’s “Everything Is Embarrassing” and the hypnotic synth pop of Sylvan Esso.

To quote Björk, “I’m no fucking Buddhist, but this is enlightenment”.

Fun fact: “Exotic Monsters” features several Creative Commons drum samples created by the European Space Agency, recorded at their European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands. Using sounds from space on a song about feeling disconnected from life on earth just felt wildly appropriate…

CREDITS

Written, produced, performed and recorded by Laura Kidd at The Launchpad, Bristol. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Artwork by Alex Tillbrook, concept by LK.

ESTEC drum samples pk3, pk4, pk6 and pk11 credit: Peter Kirn/CDM/ESA CC BY-SA. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

LYRICS 

I try sollipsistic recreation
I crave love without abbreviation
I need time to kiss this cup of coffee
I keep letters from the one who loved me
I will take all the dreams that Hollywood promised me
I want it now

We’re exotic monsters, dead from the waist down How can I be clear?
Gratitude’s the first sign of waking
I won’t go back

Keep a kiss for me
Cos we all fall down under an international sky
Fighting to believe it’ll be all right
I’m on an extrasolar high

I seek narcissistic decoration
I crave soil, warmth, ventilation
I’d like to focus on my silent fiction
I need to kick this dopamine addiction
I dream of being someone’s happy memory I want it all

We’re exotic monsters, dead from the waist down
How can I be clear?
Gratitude’s the first sign of waking
Please don’t keep me here

Keep a kiss for me
Cos we all fall down under an international sky
Fighting to believe it’ll be all right
I’m on an extrasolar high

Keep a kiss for me
Cos we all fall down under an international sky
Fighting to believe it’ll be all right
I’m on an extrasolar high

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer” are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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2020 was my best year for reading – my recommendations

2020 was my best year for reading – my recommendations

by Laura Kidd Homepage Feature Letterbox Process

I’m still gathering my thoughts on what 2020 meant to me. I really enjoy reading peoples’ end of year blog posts and have started mine a few times, from a few angles. I’ll have to see where those musings take me.

In the meantime, here’s my full 2020 reading list, separated into fiction, memoir and other non-fiction and listed in the order they were read. I’ve marked my mind/heart/life-changing titles in bold and italicised any others I would heartily recommend. If I’d read any I thought were absolutely rubbish, I wouldn’t have listed them here – but I got something from everything I read last year.

For stats lovers: I read 52 books in 2020, compared to 28 in 2019 and only a handful in 2018, 2017, 2016 and further back. I wasn’t aiming for quantity of books over quality of experience, but I did make a conscious effort to read more. Keeping a list of every book I finished in the back of my diary helped – it spurred me on to keep finding interesting things to read, and to dedicate time to reading them.

My top 3 books of 2020: this is really hard, but if I was pressed I would recommend “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie, “A Godawful Small Affair” by J.B. Morrison (aka Jim Bob) and “Amusing Ourselves To Death” by Neil Postman.

Which books made a difference in your heart, brain or both in 2020? Are you trying to read more, or are you convinced you could never finish a book? Let me know in the comments!

Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Testaments – Margaret Atwood
Wonder Boys – Michael Chabon
The Last – Hanna Jameson
The First Bad Man – Miranda July
My Sister, The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
Monkey Grip – Helen Garner
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
Middle England – Jonathan Coe
Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty
Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
Vox – Christina Dalcher
A Godawful Small Affair – J.B. Morrison – listen to Jim Bob on my podcast!
Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney
Normal People – Sally Rooney
The Runaways – Fatima Bhutto
Q – Christina Dalcher
Harvey King Unboxes His Family – J.B. Morrison
Americanah – Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie
Weirdo – Cathi Unsworth
Unsheltered – Barbara Kingsolver
Never Mind – Edward St Aubyn
The Man In The High Castle – Philip K. Dick
The Summer Everything Happened – Jane Bradley (unpublished)

Memoir

The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
My Thoughts Exactly – Lily Allen
Home – Julie Andrews
Home Work – Julie Andrews
My Name Is Why – Lemn Sissay – listen to Lemn on my podcast!
On The Road Not Taken – Paul Dodgson
Man’s Search For Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl
Carry On, Warrior – Glennon Doyle
Love Warrior – Glennon Doyle
Untamed – Glennon Doyle
Broken Greek – Pete Paphides
I Choose This – David Ford
No Time Like The Future – Michael J. Fox
Hunger – Roxane Gay
Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris

Other Non Fiction

Three Women – Lisa Taddeo
Urban Watercolour Sketching – Felix Scheinberger
This Is Marketing – Seth Godin
Platform – Michael Hyatt
Mindful Thoughts For Stargazers – Mark Westmoquette
Louder And Funnier – P.G. Wodehouse
The Curve – Nicholas Lovell
Social Media Is Bullshit – B.J. Mendelson
Syllabus – Linda Barry
Watcha Mean, What’s A Zine? – Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson
Amusing Ourselves To Death – Neil Postman
Essentialism – Greg McKeown
Hit Makers – Derek Thompson

THANK YOU for visiting my website! I’m Laura Kidd, a music producer, songwriter and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. It’s great to meet you.

+ Get FREE music immediately by joining The Correspondent’s Club (free and paid tiers available).

+ I send a thoughtful weekly email every week – choose the Freewheeler tier or upwards to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer”are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Ep27: Robin Ince on forging a career with “a dirty bomb of failed creativity”

Ep27: Robin Ince on forging a career with “a dirty bomb of failed creativity”

by Laura Kidd Homepage Feature Podcast
Thanks for visiting!

How to listen

Press play below OR click for links to
listen/subscribe on your preferred platform.

Transcript to follow soon.

Hello, hello! Welcome to my conversation with Robin Ince, recorded on 1st December 2020. Find out more about Robin’s work here and check out the Book Shambles Patreon here.

The Nine Lessons and Carols for Socially Distanced People Encore show is this Saturday 18th December – watch here.

[Content warning: some friendly swears.]

In this conversation, we discuss:

  • the importance of giving yourself permission to be creative
  • building a creative career after things didn’t go how you thought they would, and how “wasting” your 20s could lead to better work later
  • a day in the life of Robin Ince – prompted by a question from previous guest Bec Hill, I ask for productivity tips and receive a surprising answer
  • wrestling self loathing, the inner critic and an engorged ego – how to keep making things
  • what it’s been like staying in one place in 2020 after years spent constantly on the road
  • how, at times, we are the voice of lots of people who are very quiet


Explore Robin’s work:

Find out more by visiting Robin’s website and following him on Twitter.

About Robin Ince

Robin Ince is many things. A comedian, an author, a broadcaster and a populariser of scientific ideas. The Guardian once declared him a ‘becardiganed polymath’ which seems about right.

He is probably best known as the co-host of the Sony Gold Award winning BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox. He also co-hosts the podcast Robin and Josie’s Book Shambles, which gains over 100,000 listeners a month, which is part of The Cosmic Shambles Network, which he also co-created.

His most recent book, I’m a Joke and So Are You, was described by Chortle as ‘one of the best books ever written about what it means to be a comedian’. He also wrote the book, The Bad Book Club, and has edited and written short stories for two volumes of Dead Funny: Horror Stories by Comedians, as well as writing and presenting documentaries about the history of self-help, comedians and melancholy, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, Richard Feynman, General Relativity and Dr Seuss.

As a stand up he has toured the world and won three Chortle Awards, the Time Out Outstanding Achievement Award and was nominated for the British Comedy Awards Best Live show. The Guardian once wrote that, ‘When someone writes a history of modern comedy, they should make room for Robin Ince’ and of his latest show The Scotsman described it as an ‘alchemic mix of enthusiasm, knowledge and observation’.

He has created, curated, pioneered and hosted numerous nights mixing science, music and comedy at some of the most celebrated venues around the world from the Hammersmith Apollo to the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and the Royal Albert Hall. His brainchild Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People continues to sell out theatres every year, over a decade after its first appearance, and in 2019 he embarked on a world tour of arenas with Professor Brian Cox.

He has received an Honorary Fellowship of UCL, an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway College (University of London), and is a fellow of the British Science Association.


This podcast is 100% powered by my Correspondent’s Club. Thanks to every single member for your support!

New to my musical world?

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Have a lovely day xo

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Obey Robots – “Let It Snow” (4/12/20)

Obey Robots – “Let It Snow” (4/12/20)

by Laura Kidd Homepage Feature Letterbox Releases Singles


Release date: 4th December 2020
Label: My Big Sister Recordings


GET THE SONG

+ Pre-order vinyl / pay what you want/can download from Bandcamp.

ABOUT THE SONG

“Let It Snow” is the debut single by Obey Robots – a bold new project from Rat (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin) and Laura Kidd (Penfriend / She Makes War). Connected by mutual friend Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff), the pair pool their disparate influences to break new ground.

An unflinching, anthemic powerhouse to close out a terrible year, “Let It Snow” announces itself on a motoric Krautrock groove recalling Stereolab’s “French Disko” if rewired by Queens Of The Stone Age or “Used For Glue”-era Rival Schools. There isn’t a jingle bell in sight – just a clarion call for a collective look to the future.

As her previously busy world reduced to the size of her Bristol studio, The Launchpad, Laura started creating cut-up collages from Rat’s intense, melodic guitar parts, building new sound spaces to voice her hopes, fears and frustrations but, more importantly, to offer a hand to the uncertain.

The lyrics to “Let It Snow” issue a heady invocation to the weather gods to fast forward this worst of years by dousing the world in clean, crisp hope for brighter days, where we can hug our loved ones and gather together in dark music venues to celebrate the wonders of being alive.

The double A side single is available to pre-order NOW on limited edition pink 7″ vinyl and CD, with the first track, “Let It Snow”, available as a pay what you want/can digital download.

CREDITS

Written by Pring / Kidd. Produced by Laura Kidd. Mixed by Dan Austin. Mastered by Katie Tavini. Guitar performed and recorded by Rat. Bass, vocals and synths performed and recorded by Laura Kidd. Drums performed and recorded by Max Saidi.

LYRICS 

Look how we run for cover
Watch how we fight, fight, fight
I haven’t seen my mother
But I found my lust for life

I want to race the summer
Cos we’re falling down, down
Just let me talk the winter round

I’m feeling so soluble, time melts away
These days are unendable
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

The roar becomes a whisper
Smash through computer screens
I haven’t seen my sister
So fire up the time machines

I’m feeling so soluble, time melts away
These days are unendable
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I’m feeling invisible, words wear away
This year is impossible
Let it go, let it go, let it go

Feeling so soluble, time melts away
These days are unendable
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Let it go, let it go, let it go

Thanks for visiting my website!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful email every week – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer” are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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Ep25: Thea Gilmore on ignoring normal to build an 18 album career

Ep25: Thea Gilmore on ignoring normal to build an 18 album career

by Laura Kidd Homepage Feature Podcast
Thanks for visiting!

How to listen

Press play below OR click for links to
listen/subscribe on your preferred platform.

Transcript to follow soon.

Hello and welcome to my conversation with Thea Gilmore, recorded on 16th November 2020. Visit Thea’s website here and scroll down for more links to her work.

[Content warning: some friendly swears.]

In this conversation, we discuss:

  • building a longlasting music career – removing power from the middlemen and finding ways forward that aren’t whatever normal is
  • how growing up alongside your fans is a bit like being followed around by your school class
  • how imposter syndrome can keep you grateful
  • honesty in music – taking down the wall brick by brick to become more uncomfortable
  • creating a sustainable income as an artist – the importance of both our subscription clubs in our continuing survival as artists, and Thea’s pioneering early work in this area
  • how fame seems awful
  • what it’s like to be one of Bruce Springsteen’s favourite artists


Explore Thea’s work:

Find out more by visiting Thea’s website and following her on Twitter.

About Thea Gilmore

An artist of enduring international acclaim and a justly revered lyricist, Thea Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious detours in the 22 years since the release of her debut album, Burning Dorothy. Uncategorisable, whip smart and unafraid to speak her mind, her Twitter bio reads “Singer. Songwriter. Tall bird. Corruptor of words”.


This podcast is 100% powered by my Correspondent’s Club. Thanks to every single member for your support!

New to my musical world?

+ Get two free songs music immediately by joining my mailing list.

+ I send a thoughtful weekly email every Thursday – join The Correspondent’s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast “Attention Engineer”are released every Wednesday – visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

+ You can also follow me around the web, on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have a lovely day xo

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