Artist News Releases

Gold Panda and Laura Lewis release photo book

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 15 September 2016

Gold Panda’s latest album, ‘Good Luck And Do Your Best’, began as a collaboration with photographer Laura Lewis, documenting a trip to Japan, as we have previously mentioned. “But what happened to the visual side of that project?”, you might be wondering. Well wonder no more, because those photos will appear in a new book, also called ‘Good Luck And Do Your Best’.

Says Lewis: “Derwin [she uses Gold Panda’s real name because they are friends] and I met in early 2014 after Gareth Dobson at Wichita Recordings had given him a copy of my book ‘People. Places. Things’. Derwin had some rough ideas for a project – which would eventually become his third album – and asked if I’d like to accompany him on a trip to Japan to take photographs. We spent two weeks travelling and adventuring in various places throughout Japan. I really fell in love with Japan – the country and the people, their hard-working demeanour and the ever-present concept of doing one’s best”.

Japan is good, it’s true. Here’s Gold Panda’s version of that same story: “In 2014 I was introduced to Laura through a mutual friend and we decided to see – through sound recording and photography – if we could capture what I liked about the places I visit on my trips to Japan. We didn’t have a set plan but rather than find tourist spots or even places off the beaten track, we decided to explore suburbia. Places that might be considered mundane and boring by the people living there. Laura’s photos inspired me to make another record. I pinned some images up in my studio and got to work. Happily, a couple of Laura’s photos became the artwork for the album but it became clear that in order to let each photo breathe, we would need a better medium”.

The book is available now and looks like a real nice thing that you should buy for me.