Originally released in December 2020, “Let It Snow” wasn’t just the first Obey Robots single, it was the first song we completed (in December 2020!).
It was a test:
-> can we make music together? -> do we love what we made? -> does anyone want to hear it?
If the answer to the first two questions had been “no”, you would never have heard of Obey Robots. And if the answer to the second question was “yes”, the answer to the third question would never stop me anyway.
Happily, the answer to the second question was HELL YES! – and the overwhelmingly positive response from music fans was the icing on the cake. A cake full of riffs!
For this new video, I decided to invite you in to get a sense of what the collaboration process was like for Rat and I.
By December 2020 we’d only met in person twice, so all communication was by email and occasional Zoom calls. We were always speaking from our individual creative spaces, which I think helped us both to feel more confident talking to someone we didn’t know that well.
I got so used to seeing Rat on my computer screen that it still surprises me when we meet up – he’s very tall!
Most of the video was shot using Quicktime player. We’ve all grown perhaps too familiar with the particular quality of footage you get on video calls, so I wanted to retain that to bring you right into the middle of things.
All the footage up to the instrumental was shot individually and separately: me in my home studio, Rat in his. And then – well, I don’t want to ruin the plot twist, you’ll just have to watch!
Being creative doesn’t require fancy equipment or a big team of people. You can achieve a lot with just an idea, some basic gear and the drive to complete something. That’s how our album was made, and how everything else we’re sharing is being made. That’s how I’ve always worked.
This is real people making real music about real things. I hope you enjoy it.
Comics class has been cancelled due to lack of interest, and my Zoom H6 Handy recorder won’t turn on. I managed to wipe the battery compartment clear of crusty white goo, but it was too late. The damage was done. Game over. I had some luck selling broken cameras on eBay a few years ago so I’ll see what I can get for the remains.
In 2022 I would have taken these slights personally; 2023 and I are just getting to know one another.
I keep forgetting about having had Covid. How lucky is that – I am so thankful that TOUCH ALL THE WOOD its obvious effects have already gone. I started the year gently, with daily yoga and meditation, but this week I went on three very huffy-puffy runs and am getting back into Blogilates routines.
I feel like a different person.
This morning (Saturday) I tried to sleep in past my 6am alarm, but just lay there wide awake thinking about writing and working out. So…I got up, worked out, and am writing.
I’ve written every day since 3rd January. Three longhand pages of whatever blah blah blah comes out of my brain first thing (aka Morning Pages), plus 30 minutes of timed writing in another notebook, sitting at my desk under the window. It’s still dark outside, and completely quiet, and the leaves from my Monstera plant make silhouettes against the slowly brightening sky.
Quiet is the thing I crave most, these days. I need to hear my thoughts.
It’s important to me that these sessions are analogue, because I always have something to show for them. The delight I feel looking at the photo at the top of this post is incalculable – and nerdy. I made those squiggles! I had those thoughts! I put the time in! I can do this.
This is your invitation to directly support the creation of new music. To join a genuinely supportive online community, to receive thoughtful, lovingly made limited edition art and music bundles, to be part of shaping the future of my Penfriend project, and to be treated like the VIP music fan you already are.
As I embark upon the writing and recording of my second album as Penfriend, I’ve just opened up some new tiers in my Correspondent’s Club membership – and I’d love for you to join us.
Visit this page to browse all the options, and keep reading to find out how this incredibly supportive group of people have completely changed my life as an independent artist.
In 2009 I started tentatively sharing my music on the internet – and I was immediately blown away by the generosity of music fans around the world, people who were excited to sidestep the corporate music industry and directly support this independent artist.
Are you familiar with the term “patron of the arts”? It’s nothing new; artists have been funded by patrons for centuries, and it makes sense – we all have something unique to bring to our communities, offline and online, and it was a real turning point in my life when I realised that being an artist, making music and videos and podcasts and zines and whatever else – that could be my worthwhile contribution to the community.
I funded the recording, mixing, mastering and manufacturing of my first four albums through pre-orders and crowdfunding campaigns – and then, at the end of 2018, a company called Pledge Music folded, taking £6000 of my money with them.
I was furious. Not just because I needed that money to make my next album, but because the whole thing was so disrespectful to my supporters.
(I fulfilled all the pledges anyway, obviously.)
I grew up really resisting the concept of rockstars, those people we’re meant to put on a pedestal and treat as the super special ones. That never resonated with me. So, realising there was another path, a path I could make for myself where I could be a normal person – well, sort of normal – realising that I could flip all that on its head and find more ways to contribute to my community? That was huge for me.
Instead of saying “look at me, aren’t I great, shiny shiny ads, buy my music!”, I could say “here, I made this with love, I hope it helps in some way”. That’s what music does for me, whether I’m processing my thoughts and experiences through making it, or when I find music by other artists that tips my world upside down.
Music = magic.
So, at the start of 2019 I launched my Supersub Club, and in 2020 I renamed it The Correspondent’s Club. It changed my life. From juggling freelance video and social media jobs with comment moderation shifts at a national newspaper (hi trolls!), I was suddenly free to spend all my time making music and videos and podcasts and zines and whatever else. Over and above making music, I could finally spend my time encouraging others in their own creative dreams.
I went into overdrive, producing 50 episodes of my creativity podcast Attention Engineer, completing my debut Penfriend album “Exotic Monsters”, delivering quarterly art and music bundles to my dear subscribers and starting my YouTube channel in earnest.
I’ve always been a grafter, and I’ve never thought that producing 12 songs every 18 months was enough of a job for me.
There was a time around 2015-2017 when I flirted with the idea of teaming up in some way with “the music industry”, bringing my music and my community and my knowhow onto a bigger stage. All that resulted in was money wasted on PR companies who didn’t stand a chance of getting coverage for an indie upstart like me, radio pluggers who get paid whether or not they get your songs played, and time and energy wasted on a manager who didn’t seem to want to do any actual work.
Giving up on that industry mirage was empowering. No more waiting around. No more crossing fingers. No more hoping someone would come along and make everything bigger, better, easier.
I already told you, I’m not afraid of hard work.
In 2021, my first Penfriend album “Exotic Monsters” went to number 24 in the UK Official Albums chart – without the help of any of the things musicians are told are essential.
I didn’t even post on TikTok.
This momentous thing, this lifetime dream come true only happened because people who like real music about real things chose to buy my album on vinyl, CD, tape and download. And the album only exists the way it does because my Correspondent’s Club members funded it right from the start of its creation in early 2019.
It’s normal to feel disconnected from things these days, but just like your local independently run cafe continuing to stay open because you and your friends go back again and again, I get to keep making music and videos and podcasts and zines and whatever because people like you subscribe, or buy music and merch from my shop or, in the not too distant future, buy tickets to come and see me play in your town.
I do all of this all by myself, with full-time cheerleading and occasional camera holding from my husband Tim. There are no middle persons involved, no team, no manager, label, agent or anything else.
It’s a lot, but I prefer it this way – I don’t have to try to become a supermarket in the centre of town and feel like a failure when I don’t “make it”.
I’m an artisan, small batch producer of music filled with love and care and hope, that I transmit to you in whatever form you prefer, be that vinyl, CD or digital file.
It’s really tough out there at the moment, and I’m feeling it too – but alongside my paid offerings I will always keep making things that are free for you to enjoy.
I’d love to welcome you into The Correspondent’s Club either today or in the future, but whichever way we stay in touch – I’m really thankful for being able to spend a bit of time with you.
An historical vlog from February 2009. See clips of “snow day” in London and enjoy my very first music video!
“Eye Spy” is a straight-up anti-war song, and listening to the lyrics again now I feel sad that they’re always relevant. The video was shot by me in Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, and was the very start of my music video directing adventures. On-screen assistance comes from actor friend Melissa Dozois, in character as her silent movie creation Molly.
All the footage in the vlog and the music video was shot on tape – yep, video editing used to be quite the faff!
I’d been planning to make a video about how to deal with cruel comments on the internet – and then I got doxxed on Twitter.
Doxxing is when someone publishes private information about you on the internet, usually with malicious intent. Someone created a fake Twitter account pretending to be me, and sharing my phone number. This is a criminal offence, and I reported it to the police.
In this video I talk about how it feels to receive cruel comments online, how I’m shifting my mindset to try and learn how better to deal with them, plus the steps you can take if someone impersonates you or shares your personal information on social media. And hey, how about we all try to be more kind?
I spent one of the hottest afternoons known to humanity trying to get one decent sound out of my Moog Grandmother. You’ll never guess what happened next…
Join me – a complete Moog newbie – as I experiment with creating sounds on this incredible machine…with mixed results. And remember – there are no failed experiments!
Eagle-eared viewers might recognise “Long Shadows”. which appears on my album “Exotic Monsters”.
In January 2022, one of my musical heroes invited me to contribute vocals to two of his new songs, and this video includes some glamorous behind the scenes shots of self-shooting some footage for his brand new music video.
Here’s to giving ourselves permission to do our own thing!
I was never invited to work in the music industry, so have had to find ways of overcoming my inner critic and giving myself permission to create my music, videos, podcast series and blog posts as an independent producer, songwriter and filmmaker.
“Sometimes people ask me what it’s like to work in the music industry, and, genuinely, that question baffles me. No-one ever asked me to come and work in the music industry, no-one hired me, or promoted my work, or paid me for my time. I don’t have any contact with the people who work there, I don’t know how it operates, really, and I’m pretty sure they’re unaware that I also work there, if indeed I do. It’s kind of like I just showed up at someone’s office, sat down at a desk and started doing stuff. No-one’s kicked me out yet, but I don’t get holiday and the boss always forgets to call me in for my annual review.
The great thing about all this, is that I get to make whatever I want – and so really it’s about giving yourself permission to make music, or paint, or draw, or whatever the thing is that you’re driven to create. I started writing songs seriously in 2005, and my main mission in life since then has been to increase the time per week that I’m able to make things. And for that, I don’t need anybody’s permission but my own. And nor do you.”
I started playing the ukulele in 2008 after reading about George Harrison’s great love for the instrument, and have written many sad songs on it since. On a recent trip to Portugal I decided to find out about the precursor to the ukulele we know and love – the cavaquinho.
On 23rd February 2022 I played an atmospheric acoustic online gig on my Luna Dolphin ukulele and Boss RC30 loop pedal.
This song was released on my third album under the name She Makes War, and was a duet with the wonderful Tanya Donelly (Belly / Throwing Muses / Breeders).
