Series Two - Episode Two

 Desire has an undeservedly bad reputation. Without desire, what are we? Bivalves? Sponges? The second part of this episode, Old Fish, is ok with desire, and the inherent risks of pursuing desires.

The first part, What Are You Thinking About?, is probably a long and elaborate lie. There’s a fair chance he was thinking about food, or sport, or nothing at all. It’s possible he was thinking of a fantastic way to say he loved her, but not likely. 

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast. With some recent changes your help is more valuable than ever. Share the episode on social media, click on five stars, tell a friend, it all makes more of a difference than you know.

MATL

e mail

Series Two - Episode One

 Welcome to the new series of Musetrap And The Laird, new The Laird, same show.

Can you identify the precise moment love changed your life? There Was This Moment, you might be heard to say, as does the first part of episode one in this new series. The second part, The Process, is about a moment of understanding, a few moments of understanding.

Musetrap And The Laird would love to hear how you feel about their new narrator, in the comments here or via e mail. If you like him a lot why not leave a review and a five star rating where you listen to podcasts? Independent shows rely on their audience to spread the word, sharing on social media, telling a friend.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

The End Of Series One

 Change is afoot.

The Laird, your faithful narrator, is reincarnating, a new character, a new voice. Naturally the material will change a little, there may be a more Australian feel from this new The Laird, but the format and the soundtrack and all will continue.

The End Of Series One and Daniel is the latest MATL episode, an announcement, an introduction, a poem.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast, stick around for Series Two, more of the same, but different. If you want to help the show relaunch with a push start why not share your favourite episode on social media? Rate, review, follow, it all helps. Thank you!

MATL

e mail

Trump - Their King’s Touch

 Musetrap And The Laird are wary of opinion politics, they want no part in it. Destructive, divisive, dangerous, in the end futile. However there is a point where saying something against the idiocy of fascism is required. 

Trump - Their King’s Touch is a short rant about the mob wagging the buffoon, because no despot becomes a despot on their own. Like lightning, fascism strikes from the ground up, the figurehead is nothing without the mob.  

The MATL episode titled Pavel Kushnir from earlier this year is also an anti fascism piece. While fascism remans a threat, all who have any voice, no matter how small, must speak against it.

MATL

e mail

Episode Thirty Two

 Episode thirty two could be the same young man, morning and night.

Wake Up Sleepy Darling, the success or failure of the young man’s appeals for mercy will depend on the mood of his muse. Will they find his desire flattering and met by their own? Or will he just sound desperate and needy? Or it may depend on the age of the relationship, weeks or years.

Detective Camembert, late night lonely paranoia, or a young philosopher following the moonlight towards perspective?

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast. 

MATL needs your help to spread the word about the show. Every five star rating, review and follow makes a difference to it being seen by new listeners, every social media share too.

MATL

e mail

Episode Thirty One

 Themes and variations, they run through generations just as they run through art. As we mature we become aware of the themes of our lives, see that many are handed down directly from our parents. We create our own variations on those themes, pretend they are new themes, but they’re mostly not. 

What themes are you passing on? What themes have you inherited, but would rather not pass on?

Episode thirty one, To Wilfred, an old house, old themes, trying to see those themes clearly.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast. Clicking on five stars wherever you listen helps the show to find new listeners. 

MATL

e mail

Episode Thirty

 As we learn more of our planet, more of our universe, we’re compelled to alter our understanding of the word language.

Episode thirty, Drinking Gum Tree Words, is a short chat about language and communication. For humans language and emotion are often closely connected, even the most austere instruction manual can make us feel things. Learning that language is so much more than we once thought it was can only make us feel more broadly and more deeply, make us feel more connected with everyone and everything.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

The Audio Drama Directory

 Thanks to The Audio Drama Directory for adding Musetrap And The Laird to their site. 

The Audio Drama Directory 

People who make sites like this genuinely help independent producers. Finding new listeners without the budget and clout of large media organisations can be difficult, being well presented in the company of other great shows really works.

You can help too, by clicking on five stars wherever you listen and by sharing a favourite episode on social media.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Nine

 Family.

Sometimes you have to find your own. Make sure you recognise it when you do.

Episode twenty nine, Family.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast. If you want to help out the easiest ways are sharing an episode you like on social media and clicking on five stars on whatever platform you use. These things genuinely help to get the show seen by new listeners.

MATL

e mail

Pavel Kushnir

 The Laird and Musetrap pay their small tribute to Russian pianist, writer and political prisoner Pavel Kushnir.

Billionaire media owners sell free speech stories, they ignore the actions of their billionaire pal in Russia. Pavel Kushnir possessed the astonishing courage to stand up to this war mongering cabal, to simply state that he opposed a war. He is one of many artists who couldn’t look away, who loved peace more than they loved their own lives.

Musetrap And The Laird bows to his greatness.

Pavel Kushnir Wikipedia

BBC

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Eight

 In science fiction, first contact stories are a dime a dozen, so here’s two more.

Episode twenty eight is in two parts. The first, Funny Side Up, messes with cause and effect a little. The second, Bob Really Was A Moron, is a little more earthy, but don’t become too attached to Bob, he’s not long for this world, or a world in another dimension.

Sci fi is fun. Fun to mess around with, play with, and fun to imagine your own way.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast. Share a sci fi tale with a friend, or on social media, help Musetrap And The Laird make first contact with some new listeners.

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Seven

 Eventually any job can get boring.

Even being a deity can wear thin after a while, you know, given eternity and all.

Episode twenty seven is a dialogue, an old deity checking in on the work of a junior deity who apparently holds responsibility for our planet. It’s titled Dialogues - Statues because it is the first of an ongoing series. 

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast, why not share your favourite episode on social media? 

MATL

e mail

Now On YouTube Music

 Musetrap And The Laird is now on YouTube Music.

MATL on YouTube Music

This site is replacing Google Podcasts, you can still listen without a subscription or any payment. 

Wherever you listen, thank you, the audience for this weird little podcast grows slowly but steadily. If you want to help out the best way is to share your favourite episode on social media, being recommended carries much more weight than any advertising. Rate five stars, follow the show, write a review, it all helps to get the podcast in front of new listeners, algorithms and all that. Any financial contributions are more than welcome, but just sharing the show really is the best thing to do.

Oh, and the podcast is also on YouTube, audio only, if that’s your preferred platform.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Six

“There’s no aphrodisiac like loneliness

Truth, beauty, and a picture of you”

The Whitlams, No Aphrodisiac 

Some people find their best friends are long dead authors, or objects, or birds. We often worry about such people, feel they must be lonely. They may well be lonely, but find other humans don’t relieve that feeling. 

These are the scholars, the teachers, the slightly out of time, out of sync people who will lead us, via truth and beauty, out of this mess we call life.

Episode twenty six is in two parts, Violin Holy and Nuance, one who sees all and those who see deeply.

“Any new possibility that existence acquires, even the least likely, transforms everything about existence.”

Milan Kundera

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Five

 Is the number twenty five a milestone? Twenty five episodes, thirty eight stories and scenes and original pieces of music. 

Let us agree to call it a milestone.

The title of episode twenty five, Sew/Reap, is not a spelling error. It’s a tale of true love, perhaps. 

We all live within our own realities, what we see as true and what we see as false is filtered by those realities. People can only see what they can see, no matter what others say.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Four

 Still life. Captured moments. The essence of Musetrap And The Laird.

A Mandarin In A Small Blue And White Rice Bowl and Van Gogh’s Pipe, episode twenty four, are depictions of art in life, in everyday objects, in moments. Taking a moment to create, taking a moment to notice, life is a long series of still life moments.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

QATL, Coming Soon

 There will soon be an addition to the Musetrap And The Laird podcast stable, Quotations And The Laird.

Another five minute show, small collections of quotes from interesting people. It will appear once a month, possibly more often if people like it.

Each episode will include a favourite quotation from a listener, so feel free to send in yours to musetrapandthelaird@gmail.com.

This is the first of some new shows planned for MATL. 

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

Behaving Like A One Year Old

 Musetrap And The Laird turns one today.

Right now the podcast is sitting in a high chair, smooshing cake across its face and believing this makes it clever. 

Thank you all for supporting the show through the crawling and walking stages. The next year will see a combination of more of the same and some gradual change. Long term plans include a spoken word album on streaming sites, a live show, hopefully some radio pieces, but the fortnightly podcast will remain the base of everything. 

An extra thank you to our donors and subscribers. A new tin of biscuits and the hottest tea for you all.

Just changing the strings on Musetrap’s many instruments is a never ending cost, along with hosting fees and equipment and programs. Donors and subscribers make it possible for the show to go on.

Don a stupid hat, dance around a bit, join us in celebrating the first year of Musetrap And The Laird. The podcast is nothing without listeners, smoosh cake with us.

If you want to give the podcast a present, please give a five star rating wherever you listen, a review, follow, all these things make a massive difference to the show getting seen by other listeners.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

Episode Twenty Three

 We should all be blessed with an innocent love at least once in our lives. The Laird wrote this piece for a friend who, for various reasons, missed out on this joy, became an adult too soon. She also wanted to save all the animals.

Episode Twenty Three, And Floated And Floated, love, kindness, sweetness, imagination, with a soundtrack of truly delicate solo guitar, like the ripples of small waves in a small bay.

Thank you for supporting this independent podcast.

MATL

e mail

A Generous Review

 Thank you to Jazz - ER for such a positive and fun review.

The first MATL review in Ireland, it seems to have drawn others to the show which climbed to number thirty three on the Apple Podcasts fiction chart over the next few days. 

Reviews and five star ratings make a massive difference to podcasts, especially small, independent ones like Musetrap And The Laird. Thanks again to Jazz - ER and to all who’ve taken the time to help the show along.

MATL

e mail