Muses

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talking about two of the most accomplished people to have ever lived: Eslanda & Paul Robeson, who inspired Dan's song Essie & Paul, which you can hear on Bastille Presents... "&": https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore.Actor, a singer, activist; doctor, author, manager. Catch the Robeson bug from Emma and Dan, as they tell you just how amazing they were. We also hear from Ciara Ismail of Bolt Strings, about the sound of the song.Due to the live recording next week - tickets available here - next week's episode will be slightly late.You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersand.bastillebastille.com.Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. The researcher was Genevieve Johnson-Smith, and it was produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in LiverpoolCover design by Chris BarkerEpisode artwork by Harriet BruceRecorded at Plosive StudiosMixed by Miles WhewayThanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingleSources:Kinni, Fongot Kini-Yen. “Gender Consciousness and Pro-Agency” In Pan-Africanism, 2015Ransby, Barbara. “Eslanda Robeson and cold war politics.” Institute of Race Relations 54, no. 4 (2013)Smith, Jessie Carney. Epic Lives. Invisible Ink Press, 1993.

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talking about scientific genius and double Nobel Prize-winner Marie Curie, who inspired Dan's somewhat accurate song Marie & Polonium, which you can hear on Bastille Presents... "&": https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore.Rejected by her country, she named her (first) world-changing discovery after it; rejected by the academic establishment, she won two Nobel Prizes. But just how brilliant WAS she?(This episode contains a potentially upsetting description of Pierre Curie's death.)You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersand.bastillebastille.com.Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. The researcher was Genevieve Johnson-Smith, and it was produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in LiverpoolCover design by Chris BarkerEpisode artwork by Harriet BruceRecorded at Plosive StudiosMixed by Miles WhewayThanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingleSources:“Perils of Radium Emphasised Today by Discoverer.” The Daily Notes. 28th May 1928Curie, Eve. Madame Curie. New York: Doubleday, 1938Giroud, Francoise. Marie Curie. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1986Golden, Ross. “MARIE CURIE.” Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America 3, no. 2 (1945)Goldsmith, Barbara. Obsessive Genius. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005Harrow, Benjamin. “Madame Curie.” Science, 87, no. 2247 (1938)Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory. “Women in the History of Science.” Osiris 10 (1995)Pflaum, Rosalynd. Grand Obsession. New York: Doubleday, 1989.

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talking about Julie d'Aubigny, a renowned seventeenth century opera singer, duellist, fake nun, bisexual icon and probable arsonist, who grew up in the court of the Sun King but who couldn't stay our of trouble with the law for long, and who inspired Dan's song Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze, which you can hear on Bastille Presents... "&": https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore. How much do we actually know about her life, and how much of it is legend?They're joined by Kelly Gardiner, author Goddess, a novel based on Julie's life, who talks through how they got inspired to write about her, how much research they did, and how they decided which legends to believe and which to discount. Dan and Emma would like to apologise to the population of France for their pronunciations in this episode.You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersand.bastillebastille.com.Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.Cover design by Chris Barker.Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.Recorded at Plosive Studios.Mixed by Miles Wheway.Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle. Also with thanks to Dr Laura O’Brien and Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins for help with this episode.

It's time to check Dan's homework! Every week, Emma Nagouse been suggesting to Dan Smith - at Dan's request - a new idea for a song. And after eight episodes, it's time to check in and ask: how is Dan doing?Spoiler alert: you're going to hear clips from Dan's new songs about Sojourner Truth, Echo, Artemisia Gentileschi and Bathsheba. Emma and Dan also answer some listener emails - if you have more, get in touch at muses@leadmojo.co.ukListen to all the songs on Bastille Presents: Ampersand: https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore, and find out more about the people in the songs: ampersand.bastillebastille.comMuses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.Cover design by Chris Barker.Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.Mixed by Miles Wheway.Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.

In this spooooooooky bonus episode of Muses, Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) take a trip into the underworld in the company of Charlie Covell - the creator of the Netflix series KAOS, a re-telling of Greek myths for which Dan wrote a song, Eurydice.This interview was recorded before news broke that KAOS would not be returning to Netflix, but they still cover why Charlie wanted to retell this story and how they went about it - from casting to production design and, yes, how they used the music (and why, when they wanted an intense sadboi anthem, they turned to Dan). Emma gives us the tl;dr on the classic versions of these stories - including how Orpheus travelled into the underworld to rescue Eurydice - and Charlie tells us what they changed and what they kept.Please remember that it's a hallowe'en special.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.Cover design by Chris Barker.Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.Recorded at Plosive Studios.Mixed by Miles Wheway.Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.Boo!

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) talk about Oscar Wilde, who perhaps needs no introduction: literary icon, celebrated playwright, convicted criminal. But how did he go from one to the other, and why did Dan write Red Wine & Wilde - which you can hear on Bastille Presents: Ampersand: https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore - about him?Dan and Emma view Oscar's legacy through the lenses of two very different films - Wilde and The Happy Prince - and there's a reading by poet Lemn Sissay of one of Oscar's most celebrated works.You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersand.bastillebastille.com.Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.Cover design by Chris Barker.Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.Recorded at Plosive Studios.Mixed by Miles Wheway.Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.SourcesEllmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Vintage Books, 1988“Great Britain: A Life of Concealment.” Time, Sept 27th 1954Douglas, Alfred Bruce. Oscar Wilde: A Summing Up. London: Duckworth, 1940Harris, Frank. Oscar Wilde, 1916Holland, Vyvyan. Son of Oscar Wilde. New York: Dutton, 1954Knox, Melissa. Oscar Wilde. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994Pearce, Joseph. The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.Ransome, Arthur. Oscar Wilde. London: Martin Secker, 1912Sturgis, Matthew. Oscar. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018