It's the last episode of this series of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast, and so Emma (You're Dead To Me) and Dan (Bastille) are here to talk about the roles of narrators in art and academia. Can you write about people and communities to whom you don't have personal connection? What are the ethics of storytelling? Where do you start with telling someone else's story? All of these questions are reflected in Dan's song Intros & Narrators, which you can hear on Bastille Presents... "&": https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore.

Recorded at London's Bush Hall, this slightly longer than usual episode sees Dan and Emma joined by BIM, who co-wrote The Soprano & Midnight Wonderings with Dan, to talk about their song in particular, and songwriting in general. There are live musical performances, and Dan plays more excerpts from his homework - demos of unfinished songs inspired by the conversations we've had earlier in the series. There's also a surprise POP QUIZ with the best damn jingle you've ever heard, and there's even time for some questions from the audience (apologies to all those we didn't get to).

Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It was produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.

Episode cover photo was taken by Joe Horridge.

Series cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool

Series cover design by Chris Barker

Series pisode artwork by Harriet Bruce

Recorded at Bush Hall.

Recorded and mixed by Miles Wheway

Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the series cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle. Thanks to all the staff at Bush Hal, especially Sarah, Lara, Letitia and Iain.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.uk

Listen 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.com

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.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Sources

• Antony, 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.