Liner Notes no. 31: Why the record is called Kitchen Light
Ada on the kitchen where the songs were written, and the light over the sink at five in the morning. The next letter comes on Sunday 11 October.
Ada Quillon · songs from Port Ellery
Kitchen Light, and the people who listen.
Ada writes songs on a nylon-string guitar in a kitchen in Port Ellery. Her first record, Kitchen Light, comes out on Neap Tide Records on Friday 16 October, and she is taking it to six towns in the Northwest. The people who listen keep a list here, so they can find each other: in their own town, at a show, or on the way to one.
Being on the list is free, and it is yours: one yes to join, one action to leave.
This fortnight
What’s new, and who’s near
A new letter, a listening party, the people who said yes lately and the next show with a list. That is all there is to catch up on, and it ends here.
The whole record, in Olympia
Noemi Castro plays Kitchen Light start to finish in the back room of a used bookshop, a week before it is out. Listeners within 50 miles hear about it from her.
New on the list
Kiri in Tacoma, 6 September. Tobin in Bellingham, 13 September. Marguerite in Eugene, 22 September.
Release night at the Ferry Room
Theo, Connie and June said they’re coming, so the others can find them before the show or after it.
No streaks, no countdowns and no feed. Things have dates, and people have names.
The record
Kitchen Light, ten songs
Out Friday 16 October on Neap Tide Records, on vinyl, CD and download. Written at the kitchen table, recorded in the back room at Neap Tide in two weeks of evenings, and mostly played live.
Side A
- A1Kitchen Light
- A2The Ferry at Six
- A3Borrowed Coat
- A4Heron, Standing
- A5Low Water
Side B
- B1Neap
- B2Letters I Didn’t Send
- B3Night Bus
- B4Salt on the Strings
- B5The Long Way Round
- Played by
- Ada Quillon, nylon-string guitar and voice. Kofi Mensah, trumpet and flugelhorn, Beatriz Nunes, violin, Darío Méndez, bass, Mae Castellano, drums.
- Recorded by
- Oswaldo “Ozzie” Reyes, at Neap Tide Records
- Mixed by
- Wes Adeyemi
- Lyric sheet
- “Night Bus” drawn by Ye-jin Seo, who asked nothing for it and was thanked here
- Thanks
- To everyone on the listeners’ list, 12 people who each said yes to being named. See the list.
The listeners · a Kindling Pool
12 people, each with their yes
Everyone here asked to be listed and said yes to a link at the address on their own page. Each entry points to that page and carries their verification level. The list is shown by town, and nobody is ranked.
Port Ellery2 listed
- Theo LindqvistEmail verified
- Consuelo “Connie” ArroyoEmail verified
Tacoma3 listed
- Bastian HoltSigned in with OAuth
- Soraya BlumEmail verified
- Kiri WalshEmail verified
Seattle2 listed
- Anneliese StromSigned in with OAuth
- Idris BelloEmail verified
Olympia1 listed
- Noemi CastroEmail verified
Portland2 listed
- Augustin DelacroixEmail verified
- Ye-jin SeoSigned in with OAuth
Bellingham1 listed
- Tobin FairweatherEmail verified
Eugene1 listed
- Marguerite OyelaranEmail verified
The fall tour · six towns
Side A, then side B
Three stops have a list of who’s coming, so people can find someone to go with, or say hello after. Being on a stop’s list is not a ticket, and no ticket is needed to be on it.
- A1Port ElleryRelease night at the Ferry RoomFriday 16 October3 said they’re comingWho’s coming
- A2TacomaA house show in Kiri Walsh’s living roomSaturday 17 October3 said they’re comingWho’s coming
- A3SeattleAn afternoon set at a record shop, freeSunday 18 OctoberNo list for this one. Nothing is needed to come.
- B1BellinghamA café on the waterfrontThursday 22 OctoberNo list for this one. Nothing is needed to come.
- B2PortlandAn upstairs room on the east sideFriday 23 October2 said they’re comingWho’s coming
- B3EugeneA house show, host to be confirmedSaturday 24 OctoberNo list for this one. Nothing is needed to come.
Why this needs an open protocol
The letter can move. The list stays.
A creator’s audience usually lives inside whatever holds it: the letter host holds the subscribers, the store holds the buyers, the social account holds the followers. Move, and you start over, and the people who found each other there stay behind. Here the list of listeners is a file on Ada’s own site, and every entry points to a page its person keeps. Try moving her things.
The listeners’ Pool
adaquillon.example/pools/ada-listeners.json
12listed, each with their own yes
Changes to this file from Ada’s moves: none
- Port ElleryTheo · Connie
- TacomaBastian · Soraya · Kiri
- SeattleAnneliese · Idris
- OlympiaNoemi
- PortlandAugustin · Ye-jin
- BellinghamTobin
- EugeneMarguerite
On Kindling
12 of 12still listed, wherever Ada’s letter is sent from.
In a closed platform
12 of 12together inside Letter host A, the only place they can find each other.
- Nothing has moved yet. The letter goes out from Letter host A, the record is sold at Neap Tide Records’ shop, and Ada posts on Social account A.
A listener leaves, in one action
Play Augustin for a moment. He is on the list from Portland, Email verified, and he is also on the Portland show’s list.
While he is listed
His entry sits in the Pool’s file, pointing to his page at augustin-delacroix.carrd.example.
The withdrawal message, as JSON
{
"schema_version": "0.1",
"message_id": "msg-ada-quillon-withdraw-augustin",
"type": "withdrawal",
"sender": {
"identity": "augustin@mail.example",
"display_name": "Augustin Delacroix",
"verification_level": "email",
"profile_url": "https://augustin-delacroix.carrd.example"
},
"recipient": {
"identity": "ada@mail.example"
},
"via_pool": {
"url": "https://adaquillon.example/pools/ada-listeners.json",
"id": "ada-listeners",
"name": "Ada Quillon’s Listeners"
},
"sent_at": "2026-09-28T09:00:00Z",
"subject": "Withdraw me from Ada Quillon’s Listeners",
"body": {
"content_type": "text/plain",
"content": "Please remove my profile from this Pool."
},
"transport": {
"type": "email"
}
}One list, three doors
Any client can read a public Pool, by the members’ own yes. Here is the same file as three readers show it.
Ada Quillon’s Listeners · 12 people, 3 in Tacoma
You’re both on it: Soraya BlumEmail verified
A layer in its Friends and Music rooms: Ada Quillon’s Listeners, named on every card it brings you. It says nothing about dating, and a yes given there never reaches Dating.
Tacoma Three listeners say they are coming to Ada Quillon’s house show on Saturday 17 October, from a public Pool on her site.
Shift 4 · leaving costs nothingAda can move, and nobody is left behind.
Move the letter, the store or the social account above. The list is a file on Ada’s own site §3.1, and each entry points to a page its person keeps §3.5, so nothing about the list depends on those services. A listener leaves in one action, within sixty seconds §5.3, and keeps their page and every other Pool they are in.
Shift 1 · the commonsThe list belongs to the people on it.
Nobody is on it without saying yes §5.1. It is public, so there is nothing to sell, and nobody holds it hostage. If Ada stops keeping it, Noemi is first in line, and the listeners choose a keeper themselves §9.3.
Shift 3 · one room, many doorsRead it with whatever you like.
The same file opens in a friendship app, a dating-and-friends app and a newspaper §1.2. None of them had to ask Ada for an export, and none of them can keep a listener who leaves.
Which apps can read this list: Familiar Faces, for friends and groups; Heartwood, where the list is a layer in its Friends and Music rooms; Card Catalog, which files it, with the show lists, in its Music drawer; and Face Up and Sundial, which open it under its own name. The Circular prints notices from it. Any client can read a public Pool; these apps say so, and each person’s own rules still decide who may write to them §7.2.
Where the money comes from
Records, shows and tips. Never the list.
Records
Kitchen Light on vinyl, CD and download, from Neap Tide Records, at every show, and as a download from this site. The label and Ada share what it earns.
Shows
Tickets at the Ferry Room and the Portland room. At house shows, pay what you can at the door, and all of it goes to Ada.
Tips
A tip jar on this site, for the letter and the songs. A tip buys nothing else: no place on a list, no early word, no reply.
Never
Nobody pays to be on the list or to be introduced. The list is never sold, rented or traded, and there is nothing to sell: it holds only what people publish on their own pages.
Kindling charges nothing at the connection layer §1.3. Everything above sits outside it.
What you won’t find here
No tricks to bring you back
| What we don’t do | What we do instead |
|---|---|
| No streaks | Nothing counts how many days in a row you listened or opened a letter. The letter comes every other Sunday, and news comes when there is news. |
| No countdowns | Shows and records have dates. Nothing on this site ticks, and nothing says “only a few left”. When a room holds forty, we say so once. |
| No superfans, no tiers, no badges | Everyone on the list is listed the same way, in the order they said yes. Nobody’s place can be bought. |
| No paid access | A tip buys no reply, no seat and no early word. Everyone hears about a show at the same time, in the letter. |
| No feed | The home page shows two weeks: one letter, the next stops and who said yes lately. Then it ends. |
| No selling the list | The list is a public file of people’s own pages. Ada keeps it; she does not own it, and she never sells, rents or trades it. |
Liner Notes · every other Sunday
Get the letter
Songs in progress, show dates, and the listening parties people host. The letter and the list are separate: getting the letter lists you nowhere, and being on the list sends you no letter.
To be on the list, you say yes to a link sent to the address on your own page. See what that looks like.