Mental Soundtracks
Apr. 4th, 2010 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel Made an incursion into enemy territory (Ohio) this weekend to attend a concert by the Best Band You've Never Heard Of, Shearwater. Excellent show, especially when the lead singer joined opening act Wye Oak for an unexpected and wonderful cover of "Strangers" by the Kinks, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite songs and the overall "theme song" for my 'fic "No Saint to Follow."
Shearwater also provide a favorable soundtrack for my writing; they have an "epic" quality even though many of their songs are under three minutes long-- dynamic and violent soundscapes that evoke storm-tossed seas and howling night winds. (I think "Rooks" is the PERFECT song for FE9/10 'fic, if I could ever be bothered.) They have quieter songs, as well, like the title track from Palo Santo, but it's the harsher stuff like "Red Sea, Black Sea," "Century Eyes," and the magnificent (if ill-named) "Johnny Viola" that sends my spirits up and my mental gears turning. Wye Oak seem promising as well, and I picked up their first album at the show last night to give it a try.
My "writing music" has evolved over the years, though I recently brushed off a CD mix my most excellent spouse burned for me back in 2001-- containing acts from The Posies to Toto to 8Stops7-- and found it remarkably relevant to my current moods. I actually made use of it while writing up "Brave Ascent" last month. But somewhere around 2007, my tolerance for the grotesque moved up sharply, and I began to get heavily into artists like Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen, both of whom had previously been too "edgy" for me (unfettered sexuality + toxic emotions + a ton of Holocaust references = PAIN). Surprisingly, my interest in Cohen's back catalogue coincided exactly with deep interest in Fire Emblem, and listening to one reinforces writing the other in ways I don't entirely understand. War, violence, and general conflict are certainly all abiding interests of Cohen's, along with pervasive (if elusive) spirituality and that prickly topic known as the Human Condition, all of which are relevant to exploration of the FE worlds. But Cohen is also very much of the twentieth century, making him an odd accompaniment for stories about little girls who ride winged horses in a fantasy land. I keep going back to that particular well, though... maybe one day I'll understand.
If any of you have insight into your own musical soundtracks re: writing, I'd be interested to hear it. Though if any of you cite any acts related to either Disney shows or American Idol, I will be looking askance at you for a while.
Shearwater also provide a favorable soundtrack for my writing; they have an "epic" quality even though many of their songs are under three minutes long-- dynamic and violent soundscapes that evoke storm-tossed seas and howling night winds. (I think "Rooks" is the PERFECT song for FE9/10 'fic, if I could ever be bothered.) They have quieter songs, as well, like the title track from Palo Santo, but it's the harsher stuff like "Red Sea, Black Sea," "Century Eyes," and the magnificent (if ill-named) "Johnny Viola" that sends my spirits up and my mental gears turning. Wye Oak seem promising as well, and I picked up their first album at the show last night to give it a try.
My "writing music" has evolved over the years, though I recently brushed off a CD mix my most excellent spouse burned for me back in 2001-- containing acts from The Posies to Toto to 8Stops7-- and found it remarkably relevant to my current moods. I actually made use of it while writing up "Brave Ascent" last month. But somewhere around 2007, my tolerance for the grotesque moved up sharply, and I began to get heavily into artists like Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen, both of whom had previously been too "edgy" for me (unfettered sexuality + toxic emotions + a ton of Holocaust references = PAIN). Surprisingly, my interest in Cohen's back catalogue coincided exactly with deep interest in Fire Emblem, and listening to one reinforces writing the other in ways I don't entirely understand. War, violence, and general conflict are certainly all abiding interests of Cohen's, along with pervasive (if elusive) spirituality and that prickly topic known as the Human Condition, all of which are relevant to exploration of the FE worlds. But Cohen is also very much of the twentieth century, making him an odd accompaniment for stories about little girls who ride winged horses in a fantasy land. I keep going back to that particular well, though... maybe one day I'll understand.
If any of you have insight into your own musical soundtracks re: writing, I'd be interested to hear it. Though if any of you cite any acts related to either Disney shows or American Idol, I will be looking askance at you for a while.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 12:15 am (UTC)What I do is cycle through my collection of instrumental music, which includes classical, regional (eg. koto or pipa), electronic/dance, soundtracks, and soundtrack arrangements (eg. FF piano or Suikoden Celtic collections), and I choose depending on whether I want something soft, energetic, or dramatic. So in a sense I have one soundtrack that applies to everything, and choose which bits to listen to based on the overall mood of what I'm writing. It's rare that I'll start to associate a piece with a specific story or character.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-06 03:22 am (UTC)Interesting. I need silence on a very rare occasion, but usually writing demands accompaniment of some kind for me.
It's rare that I'll start to associate a piece with a specific story or character.
It is harder for me to associate specific songs with fanfic characters, but I have whole albums of "perfect" songs for my cast of OCs. But they were all intended as musically-inclined, and to a certain extent based on real musicians, so that makes more sense.
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Date: 2010-04-05 01:05 am (UTC)I will have to give a great deal of thought to this. I default to video game soundtracks, for the most part (no lyrics, good background), but there are times when 'real' music is called for, and that is where I have to sit and have a think.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-06 03:27 am (UTC)Toledo War joke in my case, really. As a non-native of Michigan, I'm still doing field anthropology when it comes to understanding the Midwest. [I do have the firm conviction that the major trouble with Michigan is its own people... all of them.]
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 01:37 am (UTC)I don't have a particular soundtrack -- it depends on my mood, for one thing, and I also often can't write WHILE music is playing. More often I get hit with inspiration while listening to something, but when I actually sit down to write I have to turn it off (if the song is related to what I'm writing) and only turn it back on when rereading. Although, if it's instrumental music I can still write with it playing in the background... I just have trouble when the lyrics are something I can understand, because they get in the way of my own words. (But if the song is totally unrelated and I can relegate it to background noise, that works too.)
And sometimes I get inspiration based on a single line or just the music which tends to make me end up with weiiird associations when the overall song doesn't match up. XD
Hmm, that said, I tend to pick and choose tracks from soundtracks/albums (exception being when I'm listening to an artist with a really distinctive sound, like j-rock band The Back Horn), and once I've written something while listening to a certain set of songs, I have to listen to that same set in order to finish writing the same story, but there's rarely any real pattern or reasoning behind my choices aside from mood.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-06 03:32 am (UTC)Cool! They're easily my favorite band of the last ten years.
More often I get hit with inspiration while listening to something, but when I actually sit down to write I have to turn it off (if the song is related to what I'm writing)
Very interesting. I seem to be in the minority when it comes to NOT finding vocal music a distraction.
And sometimes I get inspiration based on a single line or just the music which tends to make me end up with weiiird associations when the overall song doesn't match up.
And how. With fanfiction especially... I found it easier to change things or rationalize with original 'fic.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 03:45 pm (UTC)I'm not even a Michigan native anyway, so the Ohio-bashing is purely tongue-in-cheek. I could not care less about the UMich/Mich State/OSU rivalries. But the Toledo War remains a source of amusement.