Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Laura Slater: ‘Start Together’ by Sleater-Kinney
70 Plays6 months ago
Grab yer air guitars and prepare to yell - We’re about to go in for a female-focussed, punk moment, and it’s ace.
Laura Slater in a designer who works across textiles, print and image making. She is also a creative educator
Her practice is occupied with the engagement we have with pattern and its ability to connect us with the objects and environments we surround ourselves with, this is explored through approaches to process, materials and product. Her work resolved through intuitive drawing investigation, working with composition, colour and surface through the act of making.
As a designer Laura’s work is focused around creating democratic products, exploring how this can act as a vehicle for the interaction with art as part of the everyday. Her collaborators include Tate, YSP, Heals, Ikea Global, John Lewis, Lomography and Charleston.
Laura runs her design studio and print workshop in Yorkshire.
Show notes:
Website: www.lauraslater.co.uk
Instagram: @lauraslaterprint
Welcome to Survival Songs, a podcast where each episode our guest tells us about a songs that gets them through the best and worst of times.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/286u8X9g8zCa5OODERzaPX?si=GK6SD3uhQt-2ztJ8ycCOOg
Help us a grow a community of survival song listeners by joining us on over on Substack:
https://survivalsongs.substack.com/
‘Start Together’ by Sleater-Kinney can be found on our community playlist on Spotify along with our listener’s Survival Songs. Check it out and add your own!
This episode contains small portions of ’‘Start Together’ by Sleater-Kinney Survival Songs claims no copyright of this work. This is included as a form of music review and criticism and as a way to celebrate, promote and encourage the listener to seek out the artists work.
Find out more about ARTIST here:
https://www.sleater-kinney.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Survival Songs'
00:00:01
Speaker
I'm Lydia. I'm Ed. We're friends with a playlist for everything. And it turns out, we both have one called survival songs. And he got us thinking, what are other people's survival songs? So we thought we'd find out.
Community Guidelines and Support
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome to Survival Songs. A podcast where each episode our guest tells us about a song that gets them through the best and worst of times. Sensitive topics might be discussed. So look after yourself. The show contains portions of copyrighted material. We'd love for you to support and celebrate the artists by streaming, downloading and buying their brilliant music. And go give our guests a follow on social media.
00:00:38
Speaker
Help us grow the community of survival song listeners by joining us over on Substack and add to our public playlist on Spotify. Links are in the show notes. We hope you enjoy the show.
Guest Introduction: Laura Slater
00:00:49
Speaker
Welcome back to Survival Songs. And this week I am properly chuffed to be catching up with a very old friend and having a moment for some punk. This is Laura Slater. She's a designer who works across textiles, print and image making. She's also a creative educator, luckily for some.
Laura Slater's Design Journey
00:01:10
Speaker
Her practice is occupied with the engagement we have with pattern and its ability to connect us with the objects and environments that we surround ourselves with. She explores this through process, materials and product.
00:01:24
Speaker
As a designer, Laura's work is focused around creating democratic products, exploring how this can act as a vehicle for the interaction with art as part of the everyday. Her collaborators include Tate, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Heels, IKEA Global, John Lewis, Lemography and Charleston. And she runs her design studio and print workshop in
What is Laura's Survival Song?
00:01:49
Speaker
Yorkshire.
00:01:49
Speaker
which will not be a surprise to you once you hear this lady's beautiful voice. This is Laura, I can't wait for you to meet her and her survival song.
Impact of 'Start Together' on Laura's Life
00:01:59
Speaker
Start together by Sleater Kitty.
00:02:15
Speaker
All right, so that was Start Together by Sleater Kinney, which is the survival song of our guest today, Laura Sleater. Hello, Laura Sleater. Hi, Lydia. Nice to see you. it' been Really nice to see you, and we're here with our matching orange lipstick as well, which feels very appropriate for this rock'n'roll moment with our messy Vontaire and some orange lip, please.
00:02:36
Speaker
I'm so glad you sent me this song. I don't think we've had anything like this yet, so it's really nice as a little a little departure. Normally, the first question is, how did you find the song or how did the song find you? But it feels more appropriate to ask, when were you hitting the face by this song? Well, actually, this song came to me when I was 15. So the album that it's from, The Hot Rock,
00:03:01
Speaker
came out in 1999 and it was put on a mixtape on the cassette and by my um best friend now still who I'd just met then Laura. So yeah and it was a song that kind of opened my world up to things that were a little bit further alternative than the alternative at the time, if that makes sense. And and there was something about and hearing this all-female band
00:03:35
Speaker
playing instruments, singing together, staff starting together, and that just kind of spoke to me. And I still feel that Zlita Kinney sleep tokinney in their music sort of almost represents a lot of the kind of female friendships that I have now, and particularly with Laura, I guess. and And it's been with me a long time. And when you asked me to do this, my initial thought was, give me a year, and I'll figure out what my survival song is. And then I think after about a day, I was like, oh, forget that. I know exactly what i know exactly which song this is.
00:04:18
Speaker
and And it's something that, much like those kind of female friendships, is always there. And, and you know, I've always liked sort of heavier music, if you like, punk music. It is still something that I turn to probably at times of unrest, I think, something that feels a little bit more frustrated, maybe, um a little bit more driving.
00:04:44
Speaker
and melodic but discordant which are all the things that I think come from a feeling of needing to survive really. Yeah yeah so almost like a chaos needs to meet you in the chaos.
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think so, yeah. I mean, I think ah think that idea of particularly this Sleety Kinney song, but all Sleety Kinney songs is that they always have these really contrasting and ah sort of sonic moments.
Musical Complexity and Emotional Resonance
00:05:14
Speaker
So, you know, they're tender, but frustrated, they're melodic, but discordant. The words are often quite sort of contrasting the feelings that you go through in times of needing to survive. Yeah well it feels like what you go through to survive because yeah like doing this project we've definitely heard lots and lots of people describe survival differently or yeah what they need in moments of survival differently so a lot of people would choose something very calm and soothing as a kind of counter to how they're feeling so it's really interesting to me and I resonate that I do this as well that it really
00:05:52
Speaker
it really helps to have something meet you where you are sometimes and and be like, oh, if how I'm feeling in my body was a noise, it would be
Mixtapes, Identity, and Survival
00:06:00
Speaker
this. Yeah, I think also as well with this song um is that there's like a real crescendo throughout the whole thing.
00:06:09
Speaker
And it kind of builds up to a sort of chorus, I think. And that builds both in Corinne Tucker's voice, but then also in Carrie Brown's scenes like guitar playing. and And I just love the layering of it. It feels really complicated. And I don't know whether, I mean, I think some people might think it sounds quite messy, but I can always always find like a through sound in Sleater Kinney songs even though they're really layered and I think there's something about kind of Corinne Tucker's voice that
00:06:44
Speaker
has like a slight vibrato kind of thing in it. And it's almost, I don't want to use the term whaley because it feels like maybe slightly derogatory, but there's like that kind of, that shake in the voice. Yeah, the whole thing quivers, you're right. Yeah, and there's something about that as well.
00:07:07
Speaker
So you say you can always hear a through thread in a Sleater Kinney song, what's your bit Laura? it kind of It kind of builds and builds and there's this kind of really driving guitar part towards the chorus which is, baby don't you leave me, baby don't you go, I'll head out the fences, I'll head out the door.
00:07:40
Speaker
It just gets me every time. And I think sometimes you could only really get that maybe in slightly like louder, fuller music. That like real crescendo, I think.
Music, Identity, and Nostalgia
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, you're not listening to this quietly, are you? No. Quite likely in the car, quite loud.
00:08:02
Speaker
I was thinking about when you asked me to pick a song and I picked this song and I was like, I wonder what this is about. Is it about, you know, I think moments of survival can be about lots of things that happen in life. I think for me,
00:08:20
Speaker
I need to survive usually comes through sort of things that might happen in relationships or even in my like creative process which is usually one of the most amazing but frustrating aspects of my life.
00:08:35
Speaker
and And so I kind of did a bit of reading. I don't know how authentic or the provenance of this, but apparently this song is also apparently about the band we're going to split up. So it's like a creative sort of push and pull of something leaving you that has been really im important. I found that really interesting because I was like, oh, that actually really echoes.
00:09:01
Speaker
i moments in my life. Yeah, do you think e you can sort of hear the ending in it and and that's when you're reaching for it? Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, potentially. Yeah. Yeah. And a bit of that is just like, get on with it. I can have a bit of that attitude as well you know, they have to have a word with yourself, don't you? So are you putting this on consciously? You've talked about trains, cars, walking. Are you like reaching for this song? And if so, like how often? Cause it's, it's quite a punch.
00:09:36
Speaker
and ah Often I'd say I can be, as I've got older, I have got quite habitual with my listening habits, maybe because I want to be transported.
00:09:48
Speaker
two certain places or times I think like and moments of times like with like chosen family you know I mean I've got a great family I could have picked a song that was about you know then and but I think there's something about that idea of like you know teenage angst a little bit and breaking free from those things and you know asserting yourself as an individual aside from you know your family And that being a massive part, that support network being a massive part of being resilient and getting through things. And I think there are some people in your life that songs might remind you of or introduce you to songs. And you think about them as well, I think, when you're listening to music.
00:10:41
Speaker
Yeah and you're like maybe the third or fourth person to talk about a mixtape and I love that. Oh yeah. Like the gift of a mixtape from a friend or a family member and how it stays with you. Yeah I think at that time in our lives and with several people but like again particularly v Laura it was like you know just backwards and forwards and I've still got all of them in a box so I should really get like a cassette player. I really would not like to know what was on my mixtape so because a lot I think she was telling me the other day that there were like some kink songs on, not that there's anything wrong with the kinks, but I was like, really? I for really them, really actually put them on there. You know, why? But anyway. I give you the gift of the kinks.
00:11:28
Speaker
i've been I've just changed my car which means that I've lost an in-car CD player. It's gone all digital now and I'm really really missing it because for about a year I was spending 10p on CDs and all these different charity shops and then I now have just bought a CD player just so that I can play the CDs at home.
00:11:45
Speaker
I also realised that when I got rid of the car, I left Shania Twain in the player. So whoever turns it on next has got that and I feel like a woman yeah to welcome them to the vehicle. But again, strong female strong female voice. Yeah, I don't know, like the time it must have taken to make these mixtapes as well. Yeah.
00:12:06
Speaker
I just think there's something about that process and that like asserting yourself as an individual and being like, you know, this is who I am and and this is like my these this is my music, this is my band, this is my song. and And now it's just like the Spotify playlist, sorry Spotify, isn't quite the same, I
Finding Strength and Creativity in Survival
00:12:30
Speaker
don't think. No, it's a different beast, you're right.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, and it's not even a it's not even a battle between analog and digital, is it? It's just that no there is a finality about that. mixtape like It takes a lot of effort to record over it again or making something else. You're right, you're set you're kind of setting your setting your stall and saying, this is this is who I am right now and I'm gifting it to you or I'm um putting it out in the world as it is. Yeah, it's quite a statement, especially at 15, 16, which is like the age you're talking Yeah, like, as I said, asserting your individualism and almost like wearing your hat on your sleeve a little bit more. And I think that's, I think that's something about kindness lead to Kenny that.
00:13:11
Speaker
it's always been really prevalent, it's just that like honesty of like lyric and and sort of fierceness but vulnerability in the music um the and the words and the vocals. yeah it's just it's It's all of the emotions I think and all of the things so that I look for in in songs that help me like, I don't know,
00:13:36
Speaker
come out of a particular feeling or express a certain feeling. Yeah, you've kind of alluded to it a couple of times, but I'm wondering if you could say more about what survival means in relation to this song in particular. It sounds to me like this song makes you brave, kind of reminds you a little bit. I think so actually, I think that's a really nice way of putting it. It kind of reminds me who I am.
00:14:05
Speaker
where I've come from maybe allll all the things that I've gone through to this point to be able to kind of continue as well it's that like continuation of like well if I got through that I can get through this and how did I manage that and who was around me and and maybe like advocating for yourself as well and just not being afraid to say you know This is rubbish right now. These are the things that I'm going to do to make it not rubbish.
Music's Influence on Art Creation
00:14:36
Speaker
Yeah, like a very particular type of girl power. Definitely. But I think, yeah, in terms of survival, it's finding strength, maybe even finding a creative outlet to distract you.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, I was interested as you were saying all of that actually. Do you play this when you're making your art? I don't know if I do actually, as I've got older. I have and become much quieter in that.
00:15:03
Speaker
I have to listen to things that maybe make me concentrate more or that don't take over my ideas so much. I mean, I think maybe like this song makes me feel slightly angsty, which might not be the best frame of mind to be in to create. But maybe, you know, it's a bit like kind of the Rocky theme tune. i play it like ah starting to and make or create.
Laura's Artistic Vision
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah I'm just picturing some of the prints that you've made and and they make complete sense to me with this song so that's that's part of the way I ask. One of the things I think when I first heard Sleater Kinney is I thought
00:15:45
Speaker
this is in my 16 year old brain so forgive me was that oh it sounds really odd or off or the tunings like like i said discordant but as i've got older i've really wanted to find that like oddness in my work like something that feels like non-representative or something that feels maybe be slightly strange but engaging, unexpected. And those are things I think that are really exciting. Maybe something that's not pretty is what I'm kind of getting at. If if someone's not met your work before, Laura, where do they go looking?
00:16:28
Speaker
and I have a website which is laurislater.co.uk. I also have an Instagram, laurislaterprint, they're the main two places that you can
Conclusion and Invitation to Connect
00:16:40
Speaker
find me. Thank you so much for doing this, I really enjoyed it. Thank you, you too.
00:16:52
Speaker
We really hope you enjoyed the episode. If you want to support the podcast further you can choose to upgrade your subscription on Substack, but most of all we'd just love it if you told your friends about what we're up to. Thanks for listening.