Muses

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 refle...

In this episode Dr. 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 Em...

In this episode Dr. 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;...

In this episode Dr. 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...

It's time to check Dan's homework! Every week, Dr. 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...

In this spooooooooky bonus episode of Muses, Dr. 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 Char...

In this episode Dr. 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...

In this episode Dr. 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 Frid...

In this episode Dr. 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,...

In this episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast , Dr. 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/BlueSky How did his mental health affect his art? Did his work get worse when he was happy? Was he a Nazi? How hap...

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/Emily They 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 sug...

In this episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast , Dr. 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/Seasons They 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...

In this first episode of Muses: An Ampersand Podcast , Dr. 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/Eve Emma 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...

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast sees Dan Smith (Bastille) and Dr. 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 Lea...