I’ve been meaning to put together a playlist for St. Charles at Dusk for a long time now; that is, a list the songs that remind me the most of moments from the book or that I feel set the proper tone for the story.
“Be Still My Heart” by the Postal Service, will always remind of of the sweetness and simplicity of a new romance. “Tear Me in Two” by Stroke 9 describes so achingly well the complexity of Oz and Adrienne’s relationship. The lyrics and haunting tones of “Your Ghost” by Kristen Hersh and Michael Stipe do a better job than I ever could of evoking the soul-crushing emotions that Oz felt when Adrienne went missing, while “Brand New Colony” by the Postal Service delves into the “us against the world” hopefulness every couple feels when they are up against adversity.
Each song on the list has a special meaning, and relates to the story in its own unique way.
I’ll be doing one for The Storm and the Darkness as well, before it releases in July 🙂
...and then there was Sarah 
That’s a cool idea. Uh . . . I don’t recognize any of those bands. I think I’m old.
Hah! I would doubt you are much older than I am. And c’mon you don’t recognize Kristen Hersh (Throwing Muses) and Michael Stipe (REM)? We grew up with that stuff!
REM I recognize. Throwing Muses doesn’t, but I’m not very good at remembering band names beyond the big rockers.
My husband calls me the “rainman of indie rock” because I have a savant-like memory when it comes to musicians, songs, and lyrics. If only I could put it to better use.
My wife is like that with television shows. If you’ve ever seen NCIS, she’s like Dinozzo with the constant tv and movie references.
I’ve heard of one of those bands. (Death Cab for Cutie, for those keeping score at home.) And here I thought I had obscure taste in music.
The novel soundtrack is an interesting idea I’ve seen before. I’m working on putting together one of my own, though it will be focused more on orchestral stuff to suit an epic fantasy.
The main challenge is not making it entirely World of Warcraft tracks. I mean, the Firelands soundtrack was just made for the Old Gods…
The Postal Service is actually the same lead singer as DCFC.
Another WoW player, eh? I’m totally with you on the tracks…been playing since vanilla and I still love listening to the instrumentals…
What a great idea 🙂 Thanks for sharing this, Sarah!
Thanks Kira!
Actually I stink at slapping together a novel soundtrack. As the saying goes, it has to be set in right mood. In order to get the juices flowing.
Still, its a good idea. 😉
I’m usually not real stellar at it either, because I can never narrow the list down to just a handful. But over the years songs reminded me of my book and so I finally decided to put them into a playlist. 🙂
Ah good point, yeah, certain songs or music has that effect. I prefer instrumental music, varying moods light to thematic. Aside from listening to music from YouTube. One of these days, I plan to download music from epic score and other tunes that tickle my fancy via iTunes.