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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It was produced by Dr. 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.

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. The researcher was Genevieve Johnson, and it was produced by Dr. 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

Sources:

• Kinni, Fongot Kini-Yen. “Gender Consciousness and Pro-Agency” In Pan-Africanism, 2015
• Ransby, Barbara. “Eslanda Robeson and cold war politics.” Institute of Race Relations 54, no. 4 (2013)
• Smith, Jessie Carney. Epic Lives. Invisible Ink Press, 1993.

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

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. The researcher was Genevieve Johnson, and it was produced by Dr. 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

Sources:

• “Perils of Radium Emphasised Today by Discoverer.” The Daily Notes. 28th May 1928
• Curie, Eve. Madame Curie. New York: Doubleday, 1938
• Giroud, Francoise. Marie Curie. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1986
• Golden, 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, 2005
• Harrow, 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.

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

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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.

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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.

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.

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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.

Boo!

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

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. The researcher was Genevieve Johnson. It is produced by Dr. 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.

Sources

• Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Vintage Books, 1988
• “Great Britain: A Life of Concealment.” Time, Sept 27th 1954
• Douglas, Alfred Bruce. Oscar Wilde: A Summing Up. London: Duckworth, 1940
• Harris, Frank. Oscar Wilde, 1916
• Holland, Vyvyan. Son of Oscar Wilde. New York: Dutton, 1954
• Knox, Melissa. Oscar Wilde. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994
• Pearce, Joseph. The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.
• Ransome, Arthur. Oscar Wilde. London: Martin Secker, 1912
• Sturgis, Matthew. Oscar. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018

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

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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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.

Emma 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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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.

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

How 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 Dr. Emma Nagouse, with research by Genevieve Johnson. It is produced by Dr. 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): 627-646
• Berman, Patricia G. “(Re-) Reading Edvard Munch” Scandinavian Studies 66, no. 1 (1994): 45–67
• Eggum, Arne. Edvard Munch, New York: C. N. Potter, 1984
• Finger, Stanley, and Elisabetta Sirgiovanni. “The Electrified Artist” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 33, no.3, 2024: 241–74
• Kendzior, Sarah. “’The Face of ‘Scream’” Fangoria 189, no.29 (2000)
• Loren’s Ghost: The Haunted History Of The SCREAM Mask” Fangoria
• Lund, Ida K. “Edvard Munch.” Parnassus 9, no. 3 (1937): 21–24
• Mcelroy Bowen, Anne. “Munch and Agoraphobia” RACAR 15, no. 1 (1988): 23–50
• Prideaux, Sue. Edvard Munch. Yale University Press, 2005
• Vernon, McCay, and Marjie L. Baughman. “Art, Madness, and Human Interaction.” Art Journal 31, no. 4 (1972): 413–20
• Wylie Jr., Harold W. “Edvard Munch.” American Imago 37, no. 4 (1980): 413-443
• “After Munch.” Munchmuseet

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

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 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 Dr. Emma Nagouse, with research by Genevieve Johnson. It is produced by Dr. 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.

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

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, 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 Dr. Emma Nagouse, with research by Dr. Aimee Hinds Scott. It is produced by Dr. 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, 2013
• Barrow, Rosemary. “Narcissus and Echo.” in A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology. Ed. Vanda Zajko. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2017
• Calimach, Andrew. Lovers’ Legends. New Rochelle: Haiduk Press, 2002
• Colquhoun, Matt. Narcissus in Bloom. London: Repeater Books, 2023
• Gotchold, Agnieszka. The Myth of Narcissus and Its Reception in Western Culture. Warsaw Bellerive-sur-Allier: Wydawnictwo DiG Édition La Rama, 2016
• Freud, Sigmund. On Narcissism, 1914
• Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 3.23
• Miguel, Jaime Segura San, ‘Mad Narcissists” 12 (n.d.)
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6
• Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.339-510
• Pausanias Description of Greece 9.31.7-9
• Vinge, Louise. The Narcissus theme in Western European literature. Lund: Gleerups, 1967

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

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 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 Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. 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 2-3
• Sanders, Theresa. Approaching Eden: Adam and Eve in Popular Culture. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2009.

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

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is a Lead Mojo production.

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