The eighth edition of The Correspondent’s Club quarterly music and zine bundle was created in August 2022. I reworked three songs from “Exotic Monsters” for a collection provisionally titled “from The Upside Down”.
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. Dispensable Body
2. Loving Echoes
3. Long Shadows
Preview track: “Loving Echoes”
In April 2022 I spent a week in the Setubal area of Portugal, travelling up to my beloved Lisbon for several day trips. One breakfast time, after reading about the cavaquinho, an ancestor of the ukulele, I decided to go on a musical treasure hunt to find an instrument to play my song “Seashaken” on – by the sea.
“Seashaken” appears on my album “Exotic Monsters”.
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Have a lovely day! xo
The seventh edition of The Correspondent’s Club quarterly music and zine bundle was created in March 2022.
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. Penfriend Two Deep Dive (44 minute new album demo talkthrough)
Live from The Launchpad 02/22
2. Shields And Daggers
3. Dear Heart
4. The Best
5. Paper Thin
6. Seashaken
7. Delete
8. Scared To Capsize
Preview track: Penfriend Two Deep Dive (taster)
The fifth and sixth editions of The Correspondent’s Club quarterly music and zine bundle were released together in December 2021, comprising two zines and one CD.
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. This Is The Sound (Battery Thinkers cover) – read more here
2. The Argonauts
3. My Battery Is Low And It’s Getting Dark (instrumental)
4. BASSFACE (instrumental)
5. Hotel Song
6. Seashaken with a little cold
Preview track: “This Is The Sound (Battery Thinkers cover)
The fourth edition of The Correspondent’s Club quarterly music and zine bundle, created in July 2021.
An exclusive “Exotic Monsters” album commentary, made just for you x
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Exotic Monsters
3. Seventeen
4. I Used To Know Everything
5. Dispensable Body
6. Seashaken
7. Loving Echoes
8. I’ll Start A Fire
9. Cancel Your Hopes
10. Long Shadows
11. Out Of The Blue
12. Black Car
13. Thank you xo
Preview track: “Black Car (commentary)”
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.
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+ 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
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
The third edition of The Correspondent’s Club quarterly music and zine bundle, created in March 2021.
The only way to get access to future Correspondent’s Club releases is to become a member – browse member perks here.
Track listing:
1. Everything Looks Normal In The Sunshine (demo 240320)
2. Exotic Monsters (demo 190220)
3. TOWOIT Chorus (280218)
4. TOWOIT (demo 290719)
5. Cancel Your Hopes (clean)
Preview track: “TOWOIT (demo 290719)”
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 PixabayLYRICS
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
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
