- Intro
- Minefields
- Exit Strategy
- Butterflies
- Magpie Heart
- Delete
- May Our Daughters Return Home
- In This Boat
- Blue
- Never Was
- Done and Said
- Segue
- Out Of My Hands
- Shields and Daggers
- Disarm
My second album “Little Battles” was recorded in East London in summer 2011 and released on my own label My Big Sister Recordings the following year. Due to the generosity of Pledgers, I was able to spend 33 days in the studio (double what I could afford for “Disarm”) and realise my dreams of creating a deeper, more layered album.
Recorded just around the corner from the Hackney riots, London’s crackling tension is echoed within the 15 songs but if love is a battlefield this album is a peaceful protest – honest and vulnerable yet steely and sure of itself, all melancholy romance and wide-eyed hope for the future. It’s all about collisions – analogue with digital, war with peace and technology with nature.
“Little Battles” is a triumph of gorgeous melodies, slashy guitars and processed beats”
~Rock Sound
The composition and tempestuous nature of Little Battles are what make this release interesting. Drawing from sobriety (‘Butterflies’), emotional disconnect (‘Delete’ and ‘Magpie Heart’) and brutally honest confession (‘In This Boat’), even at her most revealing Kidd is an empowering force to be reckoned with.”
~ Tiffany Daniels, The Line Of Best Fit.
CREDITS
Produced by Laura Kidd and Myles Clarke at Studio B, London Fields.
Mixed by Myles Clarke.
Mastered by Dick Beetham at 360 Mastering, London.
All music and lyrics by Laura Kidd except track 8 – excerpt borrowed from “Rising Tide Of The Disconnected” by Djevara with lyrics by Usuyak Bassey.
Art Direction, design & photography – Laura Kidd.
Front cover illustration – Marnie Pitts.
Back cover photography – Laura Ward.
All instruments and programming by Laura Kidd except:
Morse code on track 1, drum programming on tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, additional drum programming on tracks 7 + 12 and piano on track 12 by Myles Clarke.
Harp on track 4, 7 and 15 by Kat Arney.
Violin on tracks 4 and 8 by Milly McGregor.
Backing vocals on track 7 by Tasmin Archer, Dana Jade, Annie Gardiner and Anna Madeleine and track 8 by Usuyak Bassey and Chris T-T.
Monotron on track 7 by Anna Madeleine.
Piano on track 8 by Chris T-T.
Hula hooping on track 13 by Julia Kidd.
LYRICS © Laura Kidd
Minefields
Stranger. Lover.
Suck air and water
Minefields and murder
His breath I long for
I'm in the wrong place, my stomach is sick
As I flounder around trying not to lose sight of it
Nothing feels right – he's too far away
Let the planets collide cos there's no point in fighting them now
Ice flows through my veins
Hot love will soothe me
Steep hills and slate skies
My eyes in your eyes
I'm in the wrong place, my stomach is sick
As I flounder around trying not to lose sight of it
Nothing feels right – he's too far away
Let the planets collide cos there's no point in fighting them now
My eyes in your eyes
I'm in the wrong place, my stomach is sick
As I flounder around trying not to lose sight of it
Nothing feels right – he's too far away
Let the planets collide cos there's no point in fighting them...
Exit Strategy
Sometimes I’m only talking to myself
Yeah I know you’re getting worried for my health
Leave it
I’m just a solitary soul
Sick of these pleasantries
All right
You can watch as I dissolve
But when I wake
I want you here to have to hold
You’re so tired of these
Drama queen tendencies
So I face my pretty tragedies
I contrive, survive
Little battles in my mind
Yeah I make my exit strategy
I deny, I don't try, I don't try
You say there’s nothing to fight
Ohoh but sometimes
All I can do is scream fire! fire! fire!
Squealing and wolfbiting
I’m tearing skin got to push all the good back in
And so I face my pretty tragedies
I contrive, survive
Little battles in my mind
Yeah I make my exit strategy
I deny, I don't try, I don't try
Blood and treasure
I love, I lose
Delivering
The blackest bruise
Saving face
Let’s beat retreat
Withdrawal doesn’t mean defeat
Butterflies
Butterflies
Lead me with your lovely lies
With lonely lips and heavy hips
I've tried
But I'll always lose to butterflies
But I don't mind
I'm not wasting my time
And though I won't be fine
I'll find a way in
I'll find a way in
Butterflies
Lead me with your lovely lies
With open seams and scattered dreams
I've tried
Bye bye bye
Magpie Heart
I didn't see, I didn't spy
Still chasing shadows made me blind
Sick of the sight of me today
This magpie heart will make me pay
Your beautiful face is leaving
Your beautiful smile receding
Gone for the ghost not for the guy
How could I?
How could I?
Your beautiful face is leaving
Your beautiful smile receding
You gave me
Your bravery
Your beautiful heart is bleeding
Your beautiful face is leaving
Your beautiful smile receding
You gave me
Your bravery
Your beautiful heart is bleeding
Delete
Don't stop
Pass by
We didn’t know that we’d survive
A simple start
I wasn't expecting to fly
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
It's no
But don’t go
Everyone’s getting old so quickly, what are we gonna do with this now
I’m so tired
I wasn’t thinking about kids and the future
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
Ohhh
Don’t stop the clock
Don’t mention the time
Eyes front and we’ll all be fine
Some sorry state
You left me in
Tearstained, scuffed and dazzling
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
I’d like to delete myself
Don’t like to repeat myself
May Our Daughters Return Home
In this city of dead women
Breezes blow subdued
People run from the night stalker
Hiding sordid truths
May our daughters return home
May our daughters return home
May our daughters return home
It's cold in the desert
Pink crosses fly
Advertising the absence
Of a young girl's life
Pale hearts and quiet bodies
Mothers fight and cry
No-one told you
But they are all our daughters too
In This Boat
In this boat I look for signs of morning
In these sails a bond I cannot keep
In this heart I hear a siren calling
Set to sea I turn my salty cheek
Don't wake up
Don't cry out
In these arms I hope for sweet surrender
In these veins I hunt for poetry
In this vessel floating to the future
Weeping weather fills the cold grey sea
Don't wake up
Don't cry out
Don't make a sound
Let tempest come
His won't be done
Illuminate my arrow
In this boat is all we ever needed
In this storm I know we will not drown
In this battleship far from homeland
Rock this body
I'll ride the waves back down
Don't wake up
Don't cry out
Don't make a sound
Confusion go - protect my home
On land or sea they won't take me
Let tempest come
His won't be done
Illuminate my arrow
You are an anchor
I am a wave
Blue
Blue is my favourite mood
It's the colour that most reminds me of you
Blue – it's that colour
It goes with everything and
It reminds me of you
Blue
There's nothing to it
I'm settling in to this
But I'm getting through it
Blue is my favourite mood
It's the colour that most reminds me of you
Blue – it's that colour
It goes with everything and
It reminds me of you
Never Was
Never was
Something for me to hold on tight
Never was
Someone for you to keep inside
Capture these memories
That we never made
In my lomographic dreams
He's hazy, lazy, light leak fade
Arise, arise
Imaginary boy made shining knight
It never was
No it never was
It never was
It never was
No it never was
It never was
Never was
Someone for you to keep inside
Never was
Something for me to hold on tight
Done And Said
All is number, all is time
Bitter histories and losing my mind
This chilly conversation's tired
It's all been done
It's all been said
It's all been tragic in my head
It's all been done
It's all been said
But I'm not ready to regret
We are homesick space stations
Thrusting hungry fingers towards the sun
Cross this sparkling chasm, come
Writing sentences in the dark
I'm marking time, clutching for the right words in the right order
We are shadow walkers, shit talkers
Needlessly filling empty air
Dumbly accepting of this particular drama
We can stand with the fire at our backs
Innocent, comfortable, numb
But this pale meat craves sweeter sleep
Visions of dancing in the bright, with you
It's all been done
It's all been said
It's all been tragic in my head
It's all been done
It's all been said
But I'm not ready to regret
Out Of My Hands
We're so sick of sad stories
In this land of glory
Don't tell me to simmer down
Don't say its out of my hands
Shields And Daggers
I said there's nothing to talk about
I said there's nothing left
I said I didn't believe you
That I'd rather be done with this and go back to bed
I thought I had proven my valour
But there's always something in the way
Now these wounds are salty and sweet
And my forcefield is flickering
You said it's typical of me
You said I shouldn't have gone
These shields and daggers don't keep us safe any more
Will you take me more seriously?
I thought I had proven my valour
But there's always something in the way
Now these wounds are salty and sweet
And my forcefield is flickering
Disarm
We’re hunting for shade
We’re making brave
Time breeds time
But time is leading us away
With love in our fingers
And dirt on our knees
Time breeds time
And it’s time to set off wandering
I’m willing to see
Dreaming bodies
Are all we’ll ever be