A word from behind the curtain
In May 2026, Peregrine Fortescue, arts correspondent, critic and occasional broadcaster, sat down with Lovibond May Rowanwood and the Pangs of Conscious and their manager Erik Kreis for a rare and exclusive interview. The following is an excerpt from that interview.
Peregrine Fortescue: It has been suggested that you and the Pangs are artificial intelligence. So perhaps we should begin with the obvious question: is Lovibond May Rowanwood real?
Heidi (drums, percussion): If she’s not, you’d better tell the rest of us.
Hannah (keyboards, synthesisers, backing vocals): (Hannah gives a small, deviant smile.) Lovibond Rowanwood is not real.
Freja (bass, backing vocals): Well, she is too good to be true.
Lovibond (lead vocals, rhythm guitar): Thank you, Freja. I think. (A reflective pause.) Hannah is quite right. Lovibond May Rowanwood is a persona. The more interesting question is whether Emily May Lovibond is real. (Glances toward a mirror, as though putting the question to herself.)
Peregrine: Is she? Is Emily May Lovibond real?
Eliza (lead guitar, fiddle, backing vocals): (raises her hand as if performing a ham version of Hamlet) Is she, or not is she? That is the question.
Heidi: Somewhere, Shakespeare has just rolled over.
Lovibond: I don’t feel compelled to prove my existence, nor am I particularly interested in explaining myself to anybody. The question is: do you like the music? If you do, listen. If you don’t, turn it the hell off.
Peregrine: Clear enough.
Hannah: (hooks her thumbs together and flutters her fingers like wings at Peregrine) Do you believe in fairies?
Freja: Or Pangs.
Hannah: Or Pangs… (claps her hands loudly)
Eliza: Then clap your hands.
(Lovibond, Hannah and Eliza clap their hands. Hannah stands, twirls once, and sits quickly down.)
Heidi: Erik believes in us.
Freja: Erik lives in his head.
Hannah: How can he, when he’s out of his mind?
Heidi: (miming drumming) Ba-dum-tss.
Peregrine: And what say you, Erik?
Erik: I’m having an out-of-body experience.
Lovibond: Aren’t you the lucky one. We’re accused of having in-a-body experiences.
(Hannah laughs.)
Hannah: Who’s on first?
Eliza: What’s on second.
Freja: Here we go again.