The Soundtrack to 'The Devil and Me'
I couldn't write without music.
Music is hypnotic, music is meditative, music is the rhythm of our thoughts. With all the noises of everyday life reaching a cacophony of distraction, I need music to channel my mind until it can focus on writing.
With that said, every piece of work I have ever completed has its own soundtrack. Every project has songs that have reached out to me as a writer and identified themselves with a character, and event, a theme.
I couldn't write without music.
My latest novel, 'The Devil and Me' was no exception. There is a soundtrack that formed along with the story itself. Hell, one of the titles of the songs led to my eventual final title.
Art cannot exist without art.
Art branches out and touches other art, influencing and branding other works of art until they are all intertwined. I could not have written my book without other artists. I can only hope my book influences someone in much the same way.
In that spirit, I thought I would share the music that branched out to me during the creation of 'The Devil and Me. At a very basic level, there are three major songs that coincide with the three sections of the novel .
They are as follows:
Part One:
Me and The Devil
Soap & Skin
This is the first song that came to me as I was forming the idea of this story. I listened to it on repeat for days as I formed the idea that would become The Devil and Me. It is also the inspiration that changed the title of the book from 'Souls' to 'The Devil and Me'.
It especially influenced the first section of the book. When I began the experiment of writing a chapter daily, when this was forming in real time, I leaned on this song continually. Not only do the lyrics bring the same forlorn, tortured impression that our narrator does, the mix of strings and the vocal arrangement really captures how I felt about this narrative and the world it takes place in.
Part Two:
Bang Bang
Pharmakon
I think most of us are familiar with 'Bang Bang' by Nancy Sinatra, it's an iconic song that's been used for creative purposes all over the place. I found this cover by Pharmakon, though, and this version of the song became something else entirely from what I was familiar with. The instrumentation and rhythm of this version made the song feel ominous, chaotic, and most of all, full of confusion. This version was the closest auditory encapsulation of the shock that our narrator is feeling towards the end of the book. The combination of loss, grief, and being forced to process the shocking information she now has now been given would result in inner noise. The mind would be disjointed, noisy, confusing. This song captures all of that for me.
There you have it. These songs are an example of how music influences my writing, and how they can influence a specific work. If you're interested, the entire playlist can be found here:
Music is hypnotic, music is meditative, music is the rhythm of our thoughts. With all the noises of everyday life reaching a cacophony of distraction, I need music to channel my mind until it can focus on writing.
With that said, every piece of work I have ever completed has its own soundtrack. Every project has songs that have reached out to me as a writer and identified themselves with a character, and event, a theme.
I couldn't write without music.
My latest novel, 'The Devil and Me' was no exception. There is a soundtrack that formed along with the story itself. Hell, one of the titles of the songs led to my eventual final title.
Art cannot exist without art.
Art branches out and touches other art, influencing and branding other works of art until they are all intertwined. I could not have written my book without other artists. I can only hope my book influences someone in much the same way.
In that spirit, I thought I would share the music that branched out to me during the creation of 'The Devil and Me. At a very basic level, there are three major songs that coincide with the three sections of the novel .
They are as follows:
Part One:
Me and The Devil
Soap & Skin
This is the first song that came to me as I was forming the idea of this story. I listened to it on repeat for days as I formed the idea that would become The Devil and Me. It is also the inspiration that changed the title of the book from 'Souls' to 'The Devil and Me'.
It especially influenced the first section of the book. When I began the experiment of writing a chapter daily, when this was forming in real time, I leaned on this song continually. Not only do the lyrics bring the same forlorn, tortured impression that our narrator does, the mix of strings and the vocal arrangement really captures how I felt about this narrative and the world it takes place in.
Part Two:
To Bring You My Love
PJ Harvey
I've been a gigantic PJ Harvey fan since my time in high school, so it's really no surprise she'd find her way into my rotation. This song though, which comes from my favorite album of hers, hit me pretty hard when I heard it again. I was in my car, my music was shuffling. I was daydreaming about the book. This song begun. It perfectly captures the theme of Part Two of the book. I didn't know it at the time, but the parallels between the lyrics and my own story was eery. The slow, ever-swelling progression of the music was also in the spirit of the book. During Part Two our narrator has lost what she didn't know she still had, and vengeance is swelling in her mind. I cannot think of a more appropriate song to capture that feeling of her exhaustion, exasperation, and eventual murderous rage.
Part Three:
Pharmakon
I think most of us are familiar with 'Bang Bang' by Nancy Sinatra, it's an iconic song that's been used for creative purposes all over the place. I found this cover by Pharmakon, though, and this version of the song became something else entirely from what I was familiar with. The instrumentation and rhythm of this version made the song feel ominous, chaotic, and most of all, full of confusion. This version was the closest auditory encapsulation of the shock that our narrator is feeling towards the end of the book. The combination of loss, grief, and being forced to process the shocking information she now has now been given would result in inner noise. The mind would be disjointed, noisy, confusing. This song captures all of that for me.
There you have it. These songs are an example of how music influences my writing, and how they can influence a specific work. If you're interested, the entire playlist can be found here:
The Devil and Me Playlist
I hope you enjoyed this little peak into my process. Let me know what your creative process is and what art has influenced you.
Take care of each other everyone.
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