Writing
Here is a collection of writing from us and you. If you would like to submit anything, please email us at lavenderbigband@gmail.com
The June 30
Hello! This is Georgie, one of the founders of the band. I’m really passionate about LGBTQ+ musicians and their work and for the last few years I’ve put together a list of my new and returning favourites. I will post a song a day until the end of June – there is a playlist of these on Tidal and Spotify.
1. Psalm 151 – Ezra Furma
We’ve all got that one artist who we fall back on. Whether it’s the nerves of taking off on a flight, not knowing whether you’re in trouble or that you’re about to break up with someone – that artist’s music is always there when you need it. For me, that’s Ezra Furman, a musical bombshell with a band that just refuses to quit. Transangelic Exodus is a seminal concept album that captures the restless nature of queer identity: a longing to escape and disappear. Psalm 151 is the penultimate song of the album and acts as a moment of relative calm. It can be viewed as the end-point of a cross-America trip away from the authorities. It is my favourite song of all time, which perhaps doesn’t bode well for the next 29 days.
Furman has an exceptional taste in music. Her 33 ⅓ book Transformer on Lou Reed’s album is insightful and worth checking out and her Radio 6 shows have shown me some of my favourite songs. Whilst Psalm 151 might be the end of a journey, Furman has to be the beginning of ours because I wouldn’t know half of this music without her.
Favourite lyric: I’ve seen her wet with moonlight praying in the street, feathers at her feet.
2. smoke – Joy Oladokun
This is a song for the top deck of a night bus. Joy Oladokun hits a special spot between relaxed and energetic and across their catalogue they never tend to disappoint in making the world seem more alive. Smoke mixes pin-pointed lyrics that cut through an ethereal sound world. The hazy nature of the song punctured by epiphanies really reflects the message of the song, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. I would recommend checking out the whole album: In defense of my own happiness.
Favourite Lyrics: Sometimes I get jealous of Jesus for falling asleep in the middle of the storm.
3. 514-415 – Bells Larsen
I came across Bells Larsen when they cancelled their US tour due to them not being able to apply for a visa because they were trans. Two weeks later, I was standing in Waterloo station about to get a train listening to their new album. I remember
The more I listen to this song, I genuinely think it’s just about a break-up but this was not my initial listening experience. I saw 514-415 as a mirrored look at the self and a conversation both ‘pre’ and ‘post’ transition. This gentle reflection of how ever far we can go as trans people, we still hold on to the small relics of our memories. The weather on your phone app from a city you’ve not lived in for years or the coffee cup you’ve been drinking out of since you were a teenager. I am surely projecting, give it a listen and let me know what you think!
4. Immaterial – SOPHIE
I very distinctly remember doing the macarena to this song but I have no recollection of where. There is nothing like this song, even in the rest of SOPHIE’s impressive catalogue, it stands out. When I am a talking head in a music documentary in 10 years’ time, I will say that this is the best pop song of all time. A good dose of dopamine!
Favourite moment: The drop at 0.25.
5. Thus Sayeth The Lorde – Meshell Ndegeocello
I remember finishing Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin and feeling like I was vibrating. The book was vibrating, the world was vibrating. Baldwin as a writer makes you sit with the gravity of words, which is especially true of his conversation with Nikki Giovanni.
I had a similar experience finishing Meshell Ndegeocello’s No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. It’s a perfect synthesis of her spoken word and musical prowess, used in a way to deliver a message with such precision that you can’t help but listen. The way that Ndegeocello unionises both the works of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, pulling them into a sonic landscape that puts their writing first but also lifts them to new heights is incredible. I have chosen Thus Sayeth The Lorde, but I would put the whole album here if I could. I mean, I could, I run the damn show! Anyway, definitely worth a listen!
Favourite lyric: It is better to speak, remembering we were never meant to survive.
6. Over and Over – Sylvester
There’s a video somewhere of me about ten singing in a high falsetto to this song wearing a see through skirt with no pants. For safeguarding reasons I have deleted this off every platform my parents use. It’s just a fun song with a good message, which I think sums up disco as a genre in general. I also really like the album cover where Sylvester is very clearly wearing makeup and has done up a total of one button on his shirt. For an album released in 1977, it feels quite incredible.
I would recommend Peter Shapiro’s Turn the Beat Around as a good book on the history of disco and talks a lot about disco’s intersections with queerness.
Favourite Lyric: You can’t be nobody’s lover. ‘Til you’re somebody’s friend.
7. Everybody Loves You – SOAK
This was the first song I remember discovering by a queer artist who wasn’t George Michael or Freddie Mercury. I’ve just put the song on as I write this – I’m back in that weird lockdown night-time we all experienced where I was just writing and going down Spotify rabbit holes. I can remember painting my nails to this on repeat and watching the sun rise. It’s quite a cathartic song that I hope you find some enjoyment in!
Favourite Lyric: Would my voice be plenty?
8. 50 Ways to Leave your Lover – Sandra Bernhard
From Madonna’s ex-best friend comes one of the greatest covers of all time. It’s what would be called a transformative cover: the famous chorus of men jumping out of relationships is instead replaced with women doing the same. It is sung with the urgency and parody that Paul Simon very much deserves. Allegedly. How do you not get sued? Anyway – check it out, a lot of fun.
Favourite Lyric: GET THE F*** OUTTA HERE
9. My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More – Alberta Hunter
The only artist on this list born in the 1800s, Alberta Hunter is part of that stratum that shaped the entirety of music but is now relatively unknown. Her ability to improvise lyrics and the musicianship that she exhibits in numerous performances makes her endlessly entertaining and wise. There’s a humour which translates from stage into recording that doesn’t stagnate. I would recommend Amtrak Blues, it’s a great album and there’s some really great piano playing on it.
Favourite Lyric: He flaps my flapjacks
10. There’s a World – Sufjan Stevens
You can put a universe into a Sufjan Stevens song. A lot of care and time goes into the crafting of the sound and each record is slightly different. Due to the somewhat fraught relationship often attributed to queerness and religion, I particularly enjoy the way he unravels and frames it in songs. I like how There’s a World calls back Carrie & Lowell right at the beginning before doing something completely different with the idea. Also to sing with such hope and positivity is cathartic and I would recommend Sufjan Stevens to everyone who needs a bit of a release. He also did a ballet with Justin Peck which was INCREDIBLE.
Favourite Lyric: All God’s children in the wind – Take it in and blow real hard.
11. Miss Chatelaine – k.d Lang
In her Canadian Country Hall of Fame interview, the first question k.d Lang asks to the audience is why no one bought their dogs? This really sums up where to sit with her music. It’s meant to be played on a windy afternoon whilst you’re inside. The strings in Miss Chatelaine are so over-the-top Parisian and romantic that this song has always stood out to me.
Favourite Lyric: Just a kiss, just a kiss, I have lived just for this.
12 Talkin’ Bout a Revolution – Tracy Chapman
It is safe to say that discovering Tracy Chapman is a milestone in a lot of queer journeys. Listening back to her self-titled album, I am struck by the number of hits on it, nearly every song holds its own. I also like that all the songs are political, they are all talking about disparity, struggle and the want for change. Talkin’ Bout a Revolution always stand out to me as it’s played quite a bit on daytime radio and it’s quite explicitly anti-establishment. I respect Chapman’s ability to write such good songs that they are able to break through the panopticon which is Magic FM.
13. Los Ageless – St Vincent
Both the acoustic and album version of Los Ageless are worth checking out. It’s another song like SOPHIE’s Immaterial where it hits all the right spots. You’re transported to a debauched night club with a band you’ve never seen before or will see again and they start playing this song. I admire an artist that is able to capture a place and a scene and St Vincent does this really well. The piano version gives a Burt Bacharach/Dionne Warwick take on the song, whilst still managing to explode into the angst of the chorus.
Favourite Lyric: Burn the pages of unwritten memoirs
14. All Without Within – Allison Russell
I’m really enjoying this song at the moment – it’s an album I always forget about until I do this project and I get to remember just how much fun it is as an album. There are just some really fun decisions and misdirections that keep it really fresh, especially All Without Within. There’s a shift into the minor at some point and it’s so natural but you just don’t see it coming. Enjoy!
Favourite Lyric: Freeze, I can stop the time – If the love is good and right
15. Stunning – Um, Jennifer
Nothing gets me quite as excited as the New York City based duo Um, Jennifer? Their 2025 debut album is raunchy and penetrative, dealing with queer love and transness in a way that revives the early days of the punk movement. Stunning evokes Sonic Youth vocals in the middle, with a drawling paragraph sung over a guitar solo. Mix this with an inexhaustive list of angsty lyrics, it’s so much fun and the drop-out towards the end somehow makes this brilliant song even more worth it.
Favourite Lyric: Bleed me dry, Spit in my eye, Tighten my tie
16. Gay Space Cadets – Lande Hekt
I just really like this song – it’s good fun and reminds me of Summer. It’s a song about new love and that intimate feeling of being able to tell all your stories for the first time again. I like how it’s short and dreamy. I feel like I should put on a pair of jorts whenever I hear it. It’s a cringey, I’m-dancing-on-my-bed-with-a-toothbrush-in-my-mouth kinda song. If only I still owned a toothbrush!
Favourite Lyric: I want to get away with saying things like you ain’t seen nothing yet.
17. All the Good Times – Angel Olsen
I spent a lot of time in a shed in uni, how dare you ask me any follow up questions. I played this album on repeat until my housemates got a bit sick of it and had a mini-intervention asking me to listen to anything else. It’s at this point of the June 30 I’m struck by how good queer people are at writing Summer songs. Tunes that are meant to be played in a field with friends, that are unobtrusive but you will always remember when you played it. All the Good Times has a crazy underrated folk drop which is too many words to describe something but you’ll agree when you hear it!
Favourite Lyric: I can’t tell you I’m sorry, when I don’t feel so wrong anymore.
18. Surrender Your Gender – Jay Dee Daugherty, Lee Ranaldo, Jayne County, Kathi Wilcox, Am Taylor
TRANSA is an insane compilation album by people who wanted to raise money for trans healthcare. Sade, Kate Bush, Ezra Furman, Asher White, what’s not to like?! With 46 songs, all different in style, there is something for everyone. I have picked Surrender Your Gender because it’s on an old walking playlist I made and I have a psychosomatic attachment to it. I also like how it sounds like a non-problematic Marilyn Manson song. Enjoy!
Favourite Lyric: Hear the rustling of the seraphim’s wings?!
19. Everyone’s Gone to the Moon – Nina Simone
Famously documented in her diaries as bisexual, NIna Simone is one of the best pianists and arrangers of the 20th century. I have picked Everyone’s Gone to the Moon as it appears on Nina Simone & Piano, recorded in 1968, five months after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The whole album captures a despondency growing towards America and a disenfranchisement in the success of the civil rights movement. This song in particular can be seen to mock the government for prioritising getting to the moon before Russia, instead of fixing the problems of everyday people down on Earth. The album is one of the greatest interpreters dealing with grief and anger, it makes for a powerful but difficult listen. This album also shows off the deep taste in music Simone had, covering pieces from Leonard Bernstein’s Peter Pan and The Desperate Ones, a French classic by Eric Blau.
Favourite Lyric: A church full of singing, out of tune. Everyone’s gone to the moon.
20. True Trans Soul Rebel – Against Me!
If I had known about this album during my emo phase, I would still be in it. It’s got that 2010’s mixing that makes you feel really young and energetic again. To have an album that is also so open about transness, it adds some much needed authenticity to a genre of music that can sometimes feel quite vapid. This album acts as a much needed role-model to a generation that perhaps doesn’t see themselves portrayed positively in media, I can’t recommend a listen enough!
Lyric: Does god bless your transexual heart?
21. Waves – Chloe Moriondo
I saw Chloe Moriondo live at Thousand Islands in Islington back in probably 2019. She was great, came on stage with just a ukulele and really held a room full of about 100 people on the end of the string. This is the only song I can play on ukulele and it reminds me of a time where I was very invested in bedroom pop and I realised that there was great art being made by people you have never heard of. It’s one of those songs which feels really mature but comes from a very early part of an artist’s career. There’s a depth to the songwriting which gives it such endurance. Talking of endurance: they also do some of the most durable merch on the planet, my partner still has their t-shirt and it hasn’t faded or got any holes.
Favourite Lyric: Sometimes I feel like i wanna go back, to a time before my mind turned black.
22. Cry Baby – Alice Low
Alice Low manages to create something modern whilst still remaining firmly in the remit of something I could play to grandparents without them having a heart attack. There is a hedonism to this album, someone dancing fluidly on stage and singing their autobiographical heart out. Something between Sparks, David Bowie and Melanie, Alice Low is melodramatic, hardhitting – a bombshell if you will. Best enjoyed with your feet hanging out of a window.
Favourite Lyric: Face the Wall, you’re worth the Gun. I was in a bind last night.
23. Ready Teddy – Little Richard
I wrote my dissertation on Little Richard and covers of his music. He’s incredibly influential, a brilliant writer with amazing stage presence. Yet he is always side-lined for the likes of Elvis and Sinatra. I would argue Ready Teddy is the most influential song of the 20th century, music today would not be the same without it. It catapulted this new genre of music into the charts and into the public eye. It’s a lot of fun and still feels fresh – which is more than you can say for Pat Boone!
Favourite Lyric: All the flat top cats and all the dungaree dolls – are headed for the gym to the sock hop ball.
24. Casper – Asher White
2012 – Jessica Pratt releases her self-titled album, full of beautiful, skeletal melodies. Poignant and swift, it was an album that quickly buried into the subconscious mind and kept a small part of you warm. I was pleasantly reminded of it by Asher White this year, who decided to cover the album in full.
From the spectral elysium of the original, Asher White injects their textbook infectious style. The sound world that is created is noisy and powerful but what impresses me the most is how well preserved the original songs are. There isn’t a want to overpower but to showcase. Asher White has cemented these songs in amber, preserving them for a new generation.
I have chosen Casper because it’s one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs and both the original and the cover have that wonderful all-encompassing power. I would recommend listening to both albums thoroughly, they are both goldmines.
Favourite Lyric: You know I walk the streets of gold, and I can’t find my baby’s bones
25. I’m Not Laughing Anymore – Left at London
Would it be a LGBTQ+ playlist without some sort of Vine star making an appearance doing a fun, comedy song that is also weirdly sentimental. I found this song three days ago and have loved it ever since. It has been added to my playlist called: Listenable. It is now also in this playlist for you to enjoy!
Favourite Lyric: The last line but I won’t ruin it xx
26. My Sweet Prince – Placebo
Your favourite song always changes as you change. Your second favourite song never changes, and for me that’s My Sweet Prince. It’s the first song that I remember listening to and going: ‘oh yeah, there’s actually a world out there I want to be part of.’ I listened to it on repeat. Much of Placebo’s early catalogue is written with neutral pronouns, it can be sung to anyone. Their first two albums are full of these morbid love songs, that could be a serenade to a lover or to drugs. Whilst My Sweet Prince has a gendered title, the feeling is entirely androgynous. It’s a slow waltz detailing the paralysis of love and how it consumes the heart. It’s a beautiful song that stands the test of time.
Favourite Lyric: Never thought you’d make me perspire, never thought you’d do me the same
27. TV Star – Du Blonde
It’s nice doing this every year because I forget Du Blond exists, and that I saw them live, and it was all just a very nice time. It’s one of those albums that takes very little from you but gives you quite a lot? Sometimes I like a bit of Jeff Buckley when it’s raining and I have my head in my hands. But sometimes I just want to dance around my room and get some of that angst out. Enter Du Blonde!
Favourite Lyric: Congratulations, you’re a TV Star
28. Woman – Jasmine.4.t
I was lucky enough to see Jasmine.4.t do an acoustic set at EartH in Hackney, supporting Ezra Furman. It’s a huge space and armed with nothing but a guitar they completely commanded the space. They told stories, made us laugh – it was a really lovely set. This song was a highlight for me, it’s eloquent and autobiographical. It brings you in and holds you there for a second in someone else’s brain. I really enjoy this song and I hope you do too!
Favourite Lyric: Underneath my cheek, an orange cloud under midnight blue.
29. O Superman – Laurie Anderson
This is a brain-scratcher if ever there was one. Even on an album of similar music, it stands alone. There’s a certain ambience that comes from its simplicity and it’s a piece that grows on you. Every time you listen there seems to be something new. The Wikipedia page is fascinating, weirdly, there are links to spirituality and facism, it’s a smorgasbord of interests. I think it’s a bit like the Greek God Janus who is just a bit different every time you look at them. It was covered by David Bowie and also hit No.2 on the UK charts which is always a good sign!
Favourite Lyric: This is the hand, the hand that takes.
30. Vaseline (For Lillian Gish) – Lex Walton
I could have picked any number of songs to end this with, but I have to go back to Lex Walton. There are so many songs I could have picked. The entirety of I WANT YOU TO KILL ME is incredible, messy and inspired. Shame Music, although earlier, has a maturity and patience that makes it an absolute unit. It’s cohesive noise, which is so hard to pull off but so satisfying when it works. I love this album and thank you fo reading!
Favourite Lyric: Two margaritas and an antacid, the last supper of a pleonastic, you tell me what you see in me. I’ll tell you why it’s plastic.
Lavender Big Band 