| Laura Kidd | |
| Alias: | Penfriend (formerly She Makes War) |
| Birth Name: | Laura Kidd |
| Birth Place: | Salisbury, England |
| Origin: | London, England |
| Genre: | Alternative rock, pop |
| Years Active: | 2009–present |
| Label: | My Big Sister Recordings |
| Associated Acts: | Obey Robots,,,,, Tricky, |
Laura Kidd is an English record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, releasing music, videos and podcast episodes as Penfriend, and formerly known as She Makes War. After releasing four albums between 2010 and 2018, She Makes War was formally disbanded in December 2019, and she launched new a music project Penfriend in May 2020, with accompanying weekly podcast series, Attention Engineer. Her collaboration project with Rat (Ned's Atomic Dustbin), Obey Robots, was launched in December 2020.
Multi-disciplinary solo project Penfriend launched on 1 May 2020 with an invitation to join The Correspondent's Club, Kidd's handmade member's club set up to provide an online space for music fans.
In May 2021, Kidd released her first record as Penfriend. Exotic Monsters reached number 24 in the UK Albums Chart and number 5 in the UK Independent Albums Chart.
Kidd's podcast series on creativity, grit and determination launched on 3 June 2020, featuring conversations with other artists, musical and otherwise. Described as "a lovely listen... As a musician herself, Kidd... talks with insight and warmth... but these are not the back-slapping all-slebs-together podcasts that we've become used to" (The Observer).[1]
Guests include Tanya Donelly (Belly / The Breeders) and Mark Chadwick (Levellers), who appeared as guest vocalists on Kidd's third She Makes War album, Direction Of Travel, plus Ayse Hassan (Savages), Frank Turner, Charlotte Hatherley, Bernard Butler, Corin Tucker, Robin Ince, Lou Barlow, Shingai and more.
Launched in 2009 with the release of EP "Three...Two...One", She Makes War was Kidd's first solo project. Her fourth album, Brace For Impact, was released in October 2018 and secured a number 15 UK Independent Albums Chart placement on 12 October 2018.[2] She has released three previous albums Disarm (2010), Little Battles (2012) and Direction Of Travel (2016). The project finished with the release of And Peace in 2019, intimate re-recordings of eight tracks spanning all four albums.
She Makes War's indie rock sound combined grunge riffs with orchestral soundscapes. John Robb described Kidd in 2011 as "a modern musical Boudica",[3] and Will Butler wrote in 2015 that she possessed "The emotional resonance of Elliott Smith colliding with the barbed vigour of Sleater-Kinney" (Gigwise).[4]
In 2015, She Makes War released Disarm: 15 an EP of "tender reworking of songs" from the first album. She Makes War's first two albums Disarm (2010) and Little Battles (2012), share stories from the personal to the political, dealing with matters of love, loss, birth, therapy, murder, abandonment, and hope.[5]
In 2016, She Makes War's third album Direction of Travel[6] featured guest appearances from Tanya Donelly and Mark Chadwick. Kidd played most of the instruments herself, with guests including Clive Deamer and Andy Sutor on drums, The McCarricks and Nicole Robson on strings, and Cajita on piano. The album was produced by Kidd and mixed by Dan Austin. Tanya Donelly's guest appearance on the song "Paper Thin" was described as "the perfect augmentation to Laura's beautiful lyrics".[7] Donelly also features in the music video for the song.
Kidd ended the She Makes War project in 2019, citing a desire to 2keep putting out the most honest, thoughtful and brave music I have inside me long into the future".[8]
As She Makes War, Kidd toured extensively in the UK and Europe both as a solo act and with a full band. She also supported Suede, The Levellers, British Sea Power, Ginger Wildheart, Tune-Yards, Gruff Rhys, The Magic Numbers, Duke Special, Midge Ure, New Model Army, Glen Matlock and Earl Slick, Nadine Shah, Erica Nockalls and Miles Hunt, Chris Helme, Drugstore and The Posies.
Kidd has also toured, providing bass and vocals, for artists including Tricky, Viv Albertine, Lil' Chris, The Penelopes, The Young Punx and Alex Parks.
In 2015, Kidd wrote and performed one-woman show Shit Girlfriend at Edinburgh Fringe, combining humorous spoken word and melancholy music performance, sharing tales of real life on the road and Kidd's ill-fated attempts at finding love along the way.[9] Her show was described by The List as "a charming hour of biographical storytelling and music… perfectly executed acoustic gems".