Muses

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 the world's greatest-ever pirate: Zheng Yi Sao, who rose from working in a 'floating brothel' to controlling the South China Sea and China's salt trade, and the inspiration for Dan's song Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her which you cannot hear yet - it's not out until the album "&" is released on Friday - but there are clips all the way through this episode, so this is your first chance to hear this song.They are joined by Doctor Leon Rocha, a former Senior Lecturer in Chinese History and Society at the University of Lincoln and a former Lecturer in Chinese Studies (History) at the University of Liverpool who offers an expert's view on how she did it, the world she was dealing with, and how she was able to walk away at the time of her choosing. We also discuss if Dan would rather be a cultist, a pirate or a bandit, and how much admin is involved in running a massive criminal empire.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 by Calvin Thornbarrow at Liverpool Podcast 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.SourcesAntony, Robert J., ed. Elusive Pirates, Pervasive Smugglers. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010.Antony, Robert J. Unruly People. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2016.Murray, Dian H. Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790-1810. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1987.Wang, Wensheng. White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2014.

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are musing about a muse: Marianne Ihlen, who inspired Leonard Cohen to write many of his most famous songs, such as Bird On A Wire and So Long, Marianne. Their relationship inspired Nick Broomfield's documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, which in turn inspired Dan/Bastille's song Leonard & Marianne, which you can listen to here: https://bastille.lnk.to/LeonardEmma and Dan are delighted to be joined in the studio by Nick himself, who explains how he first came to meet Marianne on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s, how he looks back on that community and that time, and how the Archbishop of Canterbury was (indirectly) responsible for his first-ever acid trip. Emma also catches up with Dan's homework, and instead of taking a deep dive into Dan's song, she takes a deep dive into the idea of muses, while Dan explains how the song evolved from a belter of a party piece to the more intimate, Billie Eilish-inspired version you can hear on the album.You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersannd.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.

In this episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast, Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talking about the painter of The Scream, Edvard Munch, the inspiration for Bastille's song Blue Sky & The Painter, which you can hear here: https://bastille.lnk.to/BlueSkyHow did his mental health affect his art? Did his work get worse when he was happy? Was he a Nazi? How happy would he be that his legacy is the Home Alone poster?Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse, with research by Genevieve Johnson-Smith. 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 by Tim Lozinski at TL Multimedia.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.Sources:Berman, Patricia G. “Edvard Munch’s Self-Portrait with Cigarette” The Art Bulletin 75, no.4 (1993): 627-646Berman, Patricia G. “(Re-) Reading Edvard Munch” Scandinavian Studies 66, no. 1 (1994): 45–67Eggum, Arne. Edvard Munch, New York: C. N. Potter, 1984Finger, Stanley, and Elisabetta Sirgiovanni. “The Electrified Artist” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 33, no.3, 2024: 241–74Kendzior, Sarah. “’The Face of ‘Scream’” Fangoria 189, no.29 (2000)Loren’s Ghost: The Haunted History Of The SCREAM Mask” FangoriaLund, Ida K. “Edvard Munch.” Parnassus 9, no. 3 (1937): 21–24Mcelroy Bowen, Anne. “Munch and Agoraphobia” RACAR 15, no. 1 (1988): 23–50Prideaux, Sue. Edvard Munch. Yale University Press, 2005Vernon, McCay, and Marjie L. Baughman. “Art, Madness, and Human Interaction.” Art Journal 31, no. 4 (1972): 413–20Wylie Jr., Harold W. “Edvard Munch.” American Imago 37, no. 4 (1980): 413-443“After Munch.” Munchmuseet

In this episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast, Emma and Dan are talking about the American poet Emily Dickinson, who inspired Dan's/Bastille's song Emily & Her Penthouse In The Sky, which you can hear here: https://bastille.lnk.to/EmilyThey talk about Emily's life and work, including her "friendship" with a "gal pal", and why she may not have been as much as a recluse as her reputation suggests - as well as who is to blame for that reputation. They also talk about Hey Arnold a surprising amount (ie: at all), and whether Dan wants his unreleased music burned when he dies. Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse, with research by Genevieve Johnson-Smith. 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 by Tim Lozinski at TL Multimedia.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 episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast, Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) take a long, slow look at Narcissus, who inspired Dan's song Seasons & Narcissus, which you can hear here: https://bastille.lnk.to/SeasonsThey look into the different versions of the myth of Narcissus, and how and why it's changed over the years; they also look at the myth of Echo, who Dan did NOT write a song about. They also cover the history of narcissism, and why middle eights are brilliant.You can say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse, with research by Dr. Aimee Hinds Scott. 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.Mixed by Miles Wheway.Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art; to Dr. Emma Rose Price-Goodfellow; and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.Sources:Ambroziak, Paige. “POUSSIN’S ECHO OF OVID.” WRECK 4.1, 2013Barrow, Rosemary. “Narcissus and Echo.” in A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology. Ed. Vanda Zajko. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2017Calimach, Andrew. Lovers’ Legends. New Rochelle: Haiduk Press, 2002Colquhoun, Matt. Narcissus in Bloom. London: Repeater Books, 2023Gotchold, Agnieszka. The Myth of Narcissus and Its Reception in Western Culture. Warsaw Bellerive-sur-Allier: Wydawnictwo DiG Édition La Rama, 2016Freud, Sigmund. On Narcissism, 1914Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 3.23Miguel, Jaime Segura San, ‘Mad Narcissists” 12 (n.d.)Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.339-510Pausanias Description of Greece 9.31.7-9Vinge, Louise. The Narcissus theme in Western European literature. Lund: Gleerups, 1967

In this first episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast, Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) look at the life of Eve, who inspired Dan's/Bastille's song Eve & Paradise Lost, which you can hear here: https://bastille.lnk.to/EveEmma and Dan talk about exactly what the Bible (and the Qur'an) say about her; the different interpretations of her story; and the impact her story has had on popular culture, from Desperate Housewives to No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom; and Dan talks about the process of turning the story into the song. Dan also recites all of Paradise Lost from memory, and Emma does a deep dive into the lyrics of the song and that isn't awkward at all.You can 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 by Rich Andrews at Spiritland Productions.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.Sources:Brenner-Idan, Athalya, ed. A Feminist Companion to Genesis. The Feminist Companion to the Bible 2. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993.Colette, Shelly. “Eroticizing Eve: A Narrative Analysis of Eve Images in Fashion Magazine Advertising.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 31.2 (2015): 5.Genesis 2-3Sanders, Theresa. Approaching Eden: Adam and Eve in Popular Culture. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2009.

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast sees Dan Smith (Bastille) and Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) take a deep dive into the lives of some amazing people from history and mythology, all of whom Dan wrote songs about for his latest project, Ampersand. Each episode is a conversation about history, music, mythology and popular culture, and how those things overlap. Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is a Lead Mojo production.