Laura: When we started thinking about the project I really wanted to write a song inspired by the times, a sort of elegy for the country riding the Brexit rollercoaster. I’ve written music before but never words to go with it. After several false starts my fears were confirmed.. I’m never going to be the next Billy Bragg. A rethink was in order. I knew (without asking) Stu wasn’t sure where to go with the project. After a chat and much grumbling we decided the easiest thing would be to record random soundbites from our son Idris and build a story around them. We got some really lovely clips which are a happy souvenir from the project but it soon became clear that it would take months to edit them into something which made sense. Time for another change of tack. We decided to take the lead from the 3 year old amongst us. We explained we wanted to record him on our phone while he was playing and asked him to talk about what he was doing. This was recorded in one take which I edited down (and threw in a couple of the bits recorded earlier). Stu wanted to leave it at that but I thought it needed something else. Finally I suggested Stu had a go a writing a bed for the piece on the Blipblox. He loved that idea. That was also recorded into a phone and I edited the two parts together. Despite the grumbling I think it’s safe to say neither of us would have managed to complete the project by ourselves so that’s a successful collaboration, right?!

Stu: Grumbling? Artistic differences maybe. Laura and I share quite a few musical and artistic interests, but in many ways, we are poles apart. So the only sensible way to a harmonious collaboration would be to involve someone who we both knew we could work with. Enter our 3 year old son, Idris; story teller, singer, artist. The idea to record his ramblings was straightforward enough and we soon ended up with a plentiful haul of clips of him chatting and singing. However it soon became clear that the task of editing into something meaningful would be monumental. As we were grumbling about what to do next, Idris asked me to help him build something with his magnet tiles (magnetic squares and triangles). I asked if I could record him and if he could talk about it. We had a few clips from earlier which fitted in with the theme so Laura edited them together on her laptop. Laura was keen to add some music, we have plenty of instruments between us, but Laura suggested I do something on the Blipblox which is basically an analogue synth for kids. It’s a proper bit of kit with LFOs, filters and a built in sequencer; but in a toddler friendly box with big knobs and levers and a ton of flashing lights. I recorded a few options with a space rocket feel and we chose the best one and edited it together with the story. We definitely would have been stuck for inspiration without Idris’s help!