Stars and spangles: “Elephant”: the video

Stars and spangles: “Elephant”: the video

Creativity Letterbox Releases Singles


“Elephant” by Obey Robots features on our album “One In A Thousand”, out 24th February 2023 and available here.


Someone said the thumbnail of this video makes me look like I’m in an episode of Doctor Who, and I am here for that.


VIDEO CREDITS
Directed, shot and edited by Laura Kidd.
Filmed in the corner of Rat’s messy attic in the Midlands and in the middle of Laura’s messy home studio in Bristol. Luna tried to get on camera, but it wasn’t the right time. Can you spot her in this one though?

SONG CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd in The Launchpad, Bristol.
Mixed by Chris Sheldon at Red Cedar, London, mastered by Katie Tavini at Weird Jungle, Brighton.
All music by Laura Kidd and Rat. Guitars by Rat.
All lyrics, arrangements, vocals, bass and synths by Laura.
Drums by Max Saidi.

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:

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

ā¤ļøĀ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joiningĀ The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

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

šŸŽ„ Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

šŸ’¬ Chat with me onĀ Twitter,Ā InstagramĀ andĀ Facebook.

See you soon xo

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“Elephant” – Obey Robots

“Elephant” – Obey Robots

Creativity Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

Taut and propulsive, ā€œElephantā€ marries the pop nouse of XTC with the stop-start dynamics of 00’s post-hardcore mainstays Hundred Reasons before opening up into the kind of shimmering chorus that would have shot Obey Robots to MTV stardom had it been the 90’s.



āœ… Pre-order the Obey Robots album “One In A Thousand” now and receive this track PLUS four more immediately.

āœ…
Shop limited edition vinyl, signed CDs, cassettes, tees, hoodies, lyric books and guitar pick tins.


SONG CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd.
Mixed by Chris Sheldon. Mastered by Katie Tavini.

All music by Laura Kidd and Rat, all lyrics and arrangements by Laura Kidd. All vocals and bass by Laura, all guitars by Rat. Drums by Max Saidi.

Ratā€™s guitars recorded by Dan Austin. All other instruments recorded by Laura in The Launchpad, Bristol.

Single artwork by Laura Kidd, robot illustration by Alex Tillbrook.


LYRICS

Newspaper shouts that weā€™ve had enough
The radio says weā€™re all out of love
Donā€™t let them take what you worked hard for
Slaving away for your family
Thereā€™s nothing left for the strangers who bleed
Hold tight to the things that you value

Thank your lucky stars
Look to the future
Thereā€™s freedom in guitars

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
Itā€™s just a little further

The government says weā€™re overrun
They get a break while you soldier on
Cos you donā€™t have the life that you deserve
Youā€™re working hard for your family
Thereā€™s nothing else, you believe what you read
This wasnā€™t given to you on a plate

Donā€™t politicise
Stick to the music
Dance for a little while
Always scraping the barrel
Parroting lines
Iā€™ve never felt so angry

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
Itā€™s just a little further

Weā€™re wasting time
Donā€™t want to feel so bad
Weā€™re wasting time
And it was all we had

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Count the seconds as they crystallise
Itā€™s just a little further

We try to get it right
Fight the forces on the other side
Just a little longer
Unbandaging our eyes
Losing hours as they hypnotise
Itā€™s always a little further than we can


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:

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

ā¤ļøĀ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joiningĀ The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

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

šŸŽ„ Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

šŸ’¬ Chat with me onĀ Twitter,Ā InstagramĀ andĀ Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Yes, we made these costumes ourselves…

Yes, we made these costumes ourselves…

Creativity Letterbox Releases Singles


“Porcupine” by Obey Robots features on our album “One In A Thousand”, out 24th February 2023 and available here.


The only reviews I care about are from music fans…here are some words on “Porcupine”:

“Damned fine. Catchy, driving tune allied to pleasingly daft day-go visuals” – author Ian Rankin

ā€œ90s guitar mated with 80s synth to make a 2023 musical gem of a baby.  love it.ā€ – TheHousePanther

ā€œan absolute hoot!ā€ – Jo

ā€œYou Robots know how to party!ā€ – Joe

ā€œAwesome riff, hilarious video, cracking song! Love it!!! ā€œ – Gary

ā€œSO FUN!  Love this!ā€ – Wendy

ā€œKiller riff, great vocal, and a hugely fun video to go with them. Well played, again. This album is going to be a belter.ā€ – Matt

ā€œPink wafers for the win.ā€ – PupGeorge

ā€œThat was absolutely bonkers and I love it!ā€ – Vince

ā€œWhat fabulous nonsense!  I will practice dance moves for any live performance you put on – even if I’m not attendingā€ – Shane

ā€œevery part of this is utterly delightful!ā€ – Dan

ā€œI am a porcupine!ā€ – Jez

THANK YOU


I’d had this video idea in mind for months, and when it came time to make it a reality the timing was perfect.

New Year, new outlook. It was time to throw off the bad bits of 2022 and be as utterly silly as we liked. Who cares?

I’m a porcupine! You’re a porcupine!

The song is about defensiveness (particularly on the internet); our seemingly innate urge to throw up our spikes right away to defend ourselves by caricaturing the opposition, magnified by addictive media.

We’re told “there’s nothing new under the sun”…bring me another song containing the words “erethizontidae” and “hystricidae” accompanied by a video featuring a cardboard robot party in the local village hall and I’ll agree with you!


PS the last few “I’m a Porcupine” tees are for sale here.


VIDEO CREDITS
Directed and edited by Laura Kidd
DOP – Sarah Smither
Camera and lighting assistant – Miles McDowell
Set photography, porcupine creation and general wonderfulness – Tim Bailey
Costumes by Rat & Laura (obviously!)
Filmed at Shirehampton Public Hall, Bristol

SONG CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd in The Launchpad, Bristol.
Mixed by Chris Sheldon at Red Cedar, London, mastered by Katie Tavini at Weird Jungle, Brighton.
All music by Laura Kidd and Rat. Guitars by Rat.
All lyrics, arrangements, vocals, bass and synths by Laura.
Drums by Max Saidi.

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:

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

ā¤ļøĀ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joiningĀ The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

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

šŸŽ„ Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

šŸ’¬ Chat with me onĀ Twitter,Ā InstagramĀ andĀ Facebook.

See you soon xo

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Why I shot a music video using Quicktime player and made it look like a Zoom call…

Why I shot a music video using Quicktime player and made it look like a Zoom call…

Creativity Letterbox Music News Process Releases Singles


Originally released in December 2020, ā€œLet It Snowā€ wasnā€™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 ā€œnoā€, you would never have heard of Obey Robots. And if the answer to the second question was ā€œyesā€, 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! šŸŽ‚šŸŽø


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 weā€™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 didnā€™t know that well.

I got so used to seeing Rat on my computer screen that it still surprises me when we meet up – heā€™s very tall!

Most of the video was shot using Quicktime player. Weā€™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 donā€™t want to ruin the plot twist, youā€™ll just have to watch!

Being creative doesnā€™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. Thatā€™s how our album was made, and how everything else weā€™re sharing is being made. Thatā€™s how Iā€™ve always worked.

This is real people making real music about real things. I hope you enjoy it.

Love,
Laura xo

-> PRE-ORDER “One In A Thousand” by Obey Robots now – out on 24th February 2023! You’ll receive four songs immediately, with another beaming into your inbox before the album release.

Thank you for supporting independent music!

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:

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

ā¤ļøĀ Get immediate access to my entire digital archive (close to 200 tracks!) plus additional ongoing Member Perks by joiningĀ The Correspondent’s Club on Patreon!

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

šŸŽ„ Watch my videos for adventures in sound & songwriting.

šŸ’¬ Chat with me onĀ Twitter,Ā InstagramĀ andĀ Facebook.

See you soon xo

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“Super Connected” – Obey Robots

“Super Connected” – Obey Robots

Creativity Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

A song about the cognitive dissonance of feeling ā€œsuper connectedā€: supposedly informed and part of a community via social media, yet deluded if we think typing words into a little box is enough to show empathy to people in very different situations to our own comfort. ā€œIf weā€™re super connected, why arenā€™t we all floating in the sea?ā€


āœ… Pre-order the Obey Robots album “One In A Thousand” now and receive this track PLUS “Not The Quiet Type” immediately PLUS a new song in your inbox every six weeks leading up to the release date of 24th February 2022.

āœ…
Shop limited edition vinyl, signed CDs, cassettes, tees, hoodies, lyric books and guitar pick tins.

VIDEO CREDITS
Directed and edited by Laura Kidd.
DOP – Sarah Smither.
Right-hand woman + set photography – Charlie Romijn
Set assistants/extras – Megan Green, Leanne Bond & Kit Crew-Gee
Set photographer – Kate Feast


Shot at Boom Satsuma, Bristol. Huge thanks to Freya Billington, Phil Zikking and David Neal.

SONG CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd in The Launchpad, Bristol.
Mixed by Chris Sheldon at Red Cedar, London, mastered by Katie Tavini at Weird Jungle, Brighton.

All music by Laura Kidd and Rat. Guitars by Rat. All lyrics, arrangements, vocals, bass, synths, drum programming and lead guitar by Laura.


LYRICS

I drew a target on the back of my neck
Cos some are more equal than others
Disaster junkies scrape bottomless feeds
As long as their self-satisfactionā€™s guaranteed

We hold on to life, like everyone tries
If weā€™re super connected
Why arenā€™t we all floating in the sea?

Stuck with myself, I run for my health
Cos these pretty flowers can kill you
Send bottles downstream in an alkaloid dream
Share in this delusion where no-one hears you scream

We hold on to life, like everyone tries
If weā€™re super connected
Why arenā€™t we all floating in the sea?

We hold on to life, like everyone tries
If weā€™re super connected
Why arenā€™t we all floating in the sea?


Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

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“Not The Quiet Type” – Obey Robots

“Not The Quiet Type” – Obey Robots

Creativity Letterbox Music News Releases Singles

“Featuring the iconic guitar sound of Rat (Nedā€™s Atomic Dustbin) and the compassionate melodic arrangements of Laura Kidd (Penfriend / She Makes War), “Not The Quiet Type” implores the listener to stop chasing perfection and step fully into themselves and their perceived imperfections.”

No experience is truly wasted. Try, fail and try again. Be yourself, fall in love, get it all terribly wrong and get back up.

Youā€™ve got this.


āœ… Pre-order the Obey Robots album “One In A Thousand” now and receive this track immediately PLUS a new song in your inbox every six weeks leading up to the release date of 24th February 2022.

āœ…
Shop limited edition vinyl, signed CDs, cassettes, tees, hoodies, lyric books and guitar pick tins.

CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd in The Launchpad, Bristol. Mixed by Chris Sheldon at Red Cedar, London, mastered by Katie Tavini at Weird Jungle, Brighton. All music by Laura Kidd and Rat. All lyrics, arrangements, vocals, bass, and synths by Laura. All guitars by Rat. Drums by Max Saidi.


LYRICS

Goodbye, a little sigh
Sticking fingers in my eyes
Out of time, out of sight
So I’ll try another night

I won’t regret all the hours that I spent
I’m not here to make amends
I am not the quiet type

Destruction makes us stronger
We will always get it wrong
So fall to pieces, fall apart
Weā€™ll stick it back together

Am I being interesting?
Turning cheek and fighting spin?
Finding comfort in my skin?
Imperfectionā€™s always in

I won’t regret all the hours that I spent
I’m not here to make amends
No, Iā€™m not the quiet type!

Destruction makes us stronger
We will always get it wrong
So fall to pieces, fall apart
Weā€™ll stick it back together

Destruction makes us stronger
We will always get it wrong
So fall to pieces, fall apart
Then get back up

Destruction makes me stronger
I will always do my best
So fall to pieces, fall in love
Weā€™ll stick it back together

Join my mailing list for free songs and stories, subscribe here for future videos and get involved from the start of Penfriend album #2 by joining The Correspondent’s Club.

Have a lovely day! xo

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I’ll Start A Fire (18/5/21)

I’ll Start A Fire (18/5/21)

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 Iā€™ve decided Iā€™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. 

“Iā€™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 Iā€™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 itā€™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 Iā€™m feeling paranoid
Well I spent so long ignoring my instincts
Now Iā€™m searching to destroy

Iā€™ll start a fire while the world burns
Iā€™ll start a fire, Iā€™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 Iā€™ll fall apart

Iā€™ll start a fire while the world burns
Iā€™ll cut connections while the planet turns
Iā€™ll start a fire cos it seems weā€™re elbow deep
In cheap banalities
Iā€™ll start a fire, Iā€™ll start a fire

Iā€™ll start a fire while the world burns
Iā€™ll cut connections while the planet turns
Iā€™ll start a fire cos it seems weā€™re elbow deep
In cheap banalities
Iā€™ll start a fire, Iā€™ll start a fire

THANK YOU for visiting my website! Iā€™m Laura Kidd, a music producer, songwriter and podcaster based in Bristol, UK. Itā€™s great to meet you.

Get your copy of my new album ā€œExotic Monstersā€ right here.

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

+ Browse episodes of my music podcast ā€œAttention Engineerā€ here and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

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

Have a lovely day xo


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Seventeen (23/4/21)

Seventeen (23/4/21)

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 ā€œteenage angstā€ or ā€œjust a phaseā€. 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. ā€œSeventeenā€ appeared on a summer Saturday evening, falling out of me in jagged swathes.

Facing up to our ghosts isnā€™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 youā€™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 ā€“ join The Correspondentā€™s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ I make a podcast called ā€œAttention Engineerā€, 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 YouTubeTwitterInstagram 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)

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 (Nedā€™s Atomic Dustbin), ā€œInside Outā€ started off as a shimmering acoustic guitar idea that Rat demoed and saved in a folder he called ā€œMaybe send to Lauraā€. Iā€™m very glad he did send it to me! After sharing the punchy riffs of ā€œLet It Snowā€ 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 heā€™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 Dayā€™s ā€œGood Riddance (Time Of Your Life)ā€ for a school concert back in the day. Thank you, David.

Fun fact: the original working title of this song was ā€œSpider_Capoā€. 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 ā€œInside Outā€.

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

Iā€™m replacing fear with doubt
But Iā€™m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But Iā€™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

Iā€™m replacing fear with doubt
But Iā€™m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But Iā€™m still turning inside, inside out

Iā€™m replacing fear with doubt
But Iā€™m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But Iā€™m still turning inside, inside out

Iā€™ve been letting the good side down
But Iā€™m still turning inside out
And you can show up every day
But Iā€™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 ā€“ join The Correspondentā€™s Club on a free or paid tier to receive it.

+ New episodes of my music podcast ā€œAttention Engineerā€ are released every Wednesday ā€“ visit this page to find out more and subscribe via your favourite podcast platform.

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

Have a lovely day xo

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Black Car (“Exotic Monsters”)

Black Car (“Exotic Monsters”)

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

ā€œBlack Carā€ 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 ā€œroadmapsā€ are announced. Accepting – and feeling – our feelings.

ā€œThat 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 whatā€™s important to us. Throughout this loneliest of years, Iā€™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 itā€™s still ok to feel wounded by whatā€™s been going on and to feel scared about whatā€™s to come. We will all be changed by this experience, and at the root of everything is the love we have for others.ā€

I donā€™t know what other bands ā€œBlack Carā€ sounds like, or have any clever phrases lined up to entreat you to click ā€œplayā€. 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 (ā€œloving echoesā€) 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 weā€™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

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Have a lovely day xo

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