Four years of Penfriend!!!

Four years of Penfriend!!!

Creativity Letterbox Music News


Four years ago TODAY I launched my Penfriend solo project after 10 years of releasing music under another name.

People told me it would ruin my career, that starting a new music project at the age of 39 was a doomed endeavour, that no-one would be able to find me online any more. But I knew I had to make a change – and with that change, my creativity blossomed again.

I have no regrets.

Sometimes I wonder whether fans of my previous project She Makes War think I fell off the edge of the planet, but then I remember they probably know how to use a search engine.

Things would have been very different if I hadn’t cultivated a mailing list, so here’s your semi-regular invitation to receive a FREE 12-track album and 31-page zine when you sign up.

You’re ace. Thank you!

Love,
Laura xxx



PS tonight I’m celebrating sea-themed songs from six solo albums in a FREE online gig called “She Sings Sea Songs”. Sailor hats optional, lispy tonguetwisters definite.

Music starts at 8pm, hang out in the chatbox from 7.45pm.


PPS the song that ended up being the transition between She Makes War and Penfriend is “Seashaken”. Grab the SMW demo recording here and watch the brand new Penfriend music video here, shot on the North Friesan island of Sylt in early March.


PPPS I wrote about my reasons for changing artist name here.


PPPPS – just kidding. Maybe sea you tonight? Xxx


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I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Too late? How to find an audience in your 50s (and 40s, and 30s…)

Too late? How to find an audience in your 50s (and 40s, and 30s…)

Creativity Letterbox Process


➡️ At my December livestream, I was asked the following question by  @hitchhiker7508  : “is 55 too old to hope to build a fanbase for original music?” – here’s my answer

❤️ This video is sponsored by The Correspondent’s Club – browse membership perks here and join the journey!

Subscribe to this channel for more adventures in sound and songwriting


NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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New Year, new live album gift for YOU

New Year, new live album gift for YOU

Creativity Letterbox Music News


I have a New Year’s gift for you: a hopeful 6-song live experience with bonus track and accompanying friendly gig chat.

—> Get your copy of “Mending The Year” here – pay what you want from £0 to whatever you like!

** Limited release! This album is only available for the next 10 days – go go go! **


Last Friday I collected my most hopeful songs together to play for you, and I haven’t felt so relaxed on stage in some time.

It was fun to rework some older songs, two tracks that have rarely if ever been performed live: “Disarm” (from my 2012 album “Little Battles”) and “5000 Miles” (from 2016’s “Direction Of Travel”).

We talked about the inspiration behind my “mend the year” lyric in “Paper Thin”, my “shiny things” for 2024 and more besides. What a lovely night!

Thanks for being there live, if you were, and either way you’re very welcome to take this live album as a gift, or contribute if you’d like: https://penfriendrocks.bandcamp.com/album/mending-the-year-online-gig-december-2023

Happy New Year to all of us! Whatever you’re going through, I’m sending you my love and hopeful wishes for a great year ahead.

Warm wishes and thanks for being here!
Laura xxx

PS ✅ “5000 Miles” appears on my third She Makes War album “Direction Of Travel” and this version of the song was performed live on 29th December 2023.


NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Feel the weight of the world, feel the weight of the universe

Feel the weight of the world, feel the weight of the universe

Creativity Letterbox Process


This is the last video in this little series, and this is your last chance to grab two FREE / pay what you can live albums before they disappear in a puff of glitter tomorrow night.

I wrote this song about feeling on the outside of things, confused by how light years apart people can think and act when given the same information.

“Far away, looking back from this constellation
Castaway, adrift on my own space station”

The world is at turns huge and strange, violent and terrifying, wonderful and unimaginably awe inspiring. The fact that I can beam my music from my space station to yours blows me away – thank you for being here.

This recording of “Dispensable Body” is part of my new live album “In The Many Moons”

And the song also appears on my other new live album “Encore”!

Pay what you want, from £0 to infinity, for either or both. Thank you.

BIG LOVE TO YOU
Laura xxx


✅ “Dispensable Body” appears on my debut Penfriend album “Exotic Monsters”

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Clouds collide…

Clouds collide…

Creativity Letterbox Process

When I listen closely to the lyrics I wrote more than a decade ago, my heart aches for that younger woman.

“Others love, I stay rooted to the ground
Losing, never found
Olympian, show me how to feel again
Save me, my Apollo”

In “Olympian” (from my debut album “Disarm”) I was experimenting with using myths and legends to tell a story, but what came out was my own melancholy and frustration at my situation. The idea that someone could come along and save me was very appealing in those darker days, but of course, in the end, that person was me.

PAY WHAT YOU WANT / CAN for this recording of “Olympian” as part of my new live album “In The Many Moons”.

It also appears on my other new live album “Encore”!

Type zero to infinity in the box at checkout, you’re very welcome to have this music as a gift from me to you.

Thank you!

Love,

Laura xxx


✅ “Olympian” appears on my debut She Makes War album “Disarm”.

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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I’d like to delete myself…

I’d like to delete myself…

Creativity Letterbox Process

Delete: the song that started out as a joke about using a loop pedal, and turned into a high point of almost every live set I performed from mid 2011- my last in-person show in late 2019.

I always enjoyed surprising people in the audience by appearing next to them wielding a megaphone, singing “don’t stop the clocks, don’t mention the time, eyes front and we’ll all be fine”. Hands up if you ever witnessed this in person!

I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself, no

Pay what you want for the live album here and pick up your copy of “Encore” too (I recorded the whole thing again the next day just in case…)



✅ “Delete” appears on my second She Makes War album “Little Battles” *and* my 2019 reworkings collection “And Peace” and this version of the song was recorded live during my first online gig of 2023!

“Delete” was performed live on vocals, Boss RC30 loop pedal and Trash Talk telephone mic, recorded through the Boss Gigcaster 8.


NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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I really f*cked this up…

I really f*cked this up…

Creativity Letterbox Process

…or did I?!!

Sometimes things go “wrong” at a gig…but it usually just makes things more interesting. Here’s an “extended” version of “Exotic Monsters” from my recent livestream which hopefully proves the point (and shows one way to handle it)!


Pay what you want for the live album here and pick up your copy of “Encore” too (I recorded the whole thing again the next day just in case…)

✅ “Exotic Monsters” appears on my debut Penfriend album “Exotic Monsters” and this version of the song was recorded live during my first online gig of 2023!

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Remember the summer when everyone stayed at home?

Remember the summer when everyone stayed at home?

Creativity Letterbox Music News

Remember the time I wrote a song about my own imagined death? Here’s “Black Car” from last week’s livestream.

Today I released the whole gig as a live album, available as a limited digital release for the next 10 days only on Bandcamp.

I also released a second live album called “Encore”, recorded the next day “just in case”… Brains are strange – the first gig was good!

Both albums are available on a pay what you want/can basis so, while your contributions are greatly appreciated, feel free to pick up a present from me xo


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 loved ones close
Keep your loved ones close

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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I can’t do this any more // Tea & Empathy Episode 004

I can’t do this any more // Tea & Empathy Episode 004

Creativity Letterbox Mindfulness Process


Have you ever wondered what happens when you click “BUY” on an indie artist’s products?

In Tea & Empathy Episode 004, join me as I package up orders from my House Clearance music and merch sale prior to leaving Bristol FOREVER. I talk about upcoming changes, gratitude and more.

Starring Lunapup and Albydog.

Watch more episodes of “Tea & Empathy” here xo

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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I heart Bandcamp + last day of my BIG SALE

I heart Bandcamp + last day of my BIG SALE

Creativity Letterbox Music News Process

TL;DR: House Clearance Sale – last day to get up to 50% off music and merch!


In 2009 I was living in a rented maisonette in South London where, for the first time, I had a separate room to write songs and edit videos in. The windows didn’t close, and there were definitely mice under the floorboards, but I finally had space!

A (real-life) friend I’d first met on photo-sharing site Flickr invited me to take part in a month-long local art installation called The Apollo Project, based in the old Apollo video shop in Herne Hill. Thank you, Laura Ward!

I played gigs, volunteered at other events and even sat on the floor before one of the shows burning CD-Rs of my first EP “Three…Two…One…”, clicking them into DVD cases that I’d decorated with a print of a photograph of a cassette tape.

I also uploaded the EP to Bandcamp.

Back then, I could never have predicted where sharing my music on the internet could take me. After years of playing bass and singing with big artists around the world, I knew it was time to say what I wanted to say, but I never dreamed anyone else would want to hear it.

Over the years, I’ve funded the making of new music through Bandcamp pre-orders, crowdfunding campaigns and, over the past four years, my Correspondent’s Club subscription, because music fans are the absolute best.

7 albums on, I’m preparing to move to Nottingham after 11 years of doing my thing in Bristol, and so I’m running a House Clearance Sale with up to 50% off 23 items: vinyl, CDs, tees and badges.

I will forever be grateful and thankful for Bandcamp for making it possible for indies like me to easily sell our music direct to you.

➡️ I ALSO have tons of free downloads available across both my Bandcamp pages, handily collated for you here.

BIG LOVE
BIG THANKS
Laura xxx

NEXT

I’m proud and very thankful to be a fully fan-funded artist, so if you’d like to stay involved and continue to support the making of new music, writing and videos:

🎁 Get your FREE 12-track album + 31-page PDF zine of stories, photographs and artwork here.

❤️ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joining The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

🎸 Listen to my latest solo album “Exotic Monsters” and browse my back catalogue.

🎥 Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

💬 Chat with me on BlueskyTwitterInstagram and Facebook.

See you soon xo

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