Soundtrack Sunday – A WILD KIND OF DARKNESS

I completely forgot to do this in November with everything going on, and the soundtrack posts aren’t super popular anyway so I left this sitting as a draft for a while. And as I warned, there’s tremendous crossover with this series, as it’s like one long-running story to me rather than individual books; sometimes it gets tricky to pick ones specific to the story instead of just repeating myself, but I have attempted to do so.

Agnes Obel – “Fuel to Fire“
“I might be yours as sure as I can say“

Cat Power – “Troubled Waters“
“I must be / One of the devil’s daughters“

Ane Brun – “How to Disappear Completely“
The “Setback” chapter with the medical emergency, where Waverly starts to disassociate.
“I’m not here / This isn’t happening”

Alison Krauss & Union Station – “It Doesn’t Matter“
I kind of saw this as the post “Prepare Yourself” chapter, where Meadow is going on about Waverly being fatalistic.
“It doesn’t matter if I cry / Don’t matter if I bleed / You’ve been on a road / Don’t know where it goes or where it leads”

Mazzy Star – “Into Dust“
Waverly learns something new about her sister.
“I could feel myself growing colder / I could feel myself under your fate”

Shigeru Umebayashi – “Yumeji’s Theme“
In the Mood for Love gets a mention in the book (and a later one), and honestly it’s one of those things that amuses probably only me because although I summarize it in the book, in my head there’s this whole long conversation because he knows all the ins and outs of the film and he’s so passionate about it, and Waverly goes home and watches it and on a technical level, the film makes sense to her and it’s well done, but emotionally she doesn’t get it. (I think it’s a fantastic film, but I tend to see the darker aspects the way Waverly does; Leung is so handsome and disarming, so much would be creepier if someone less attractive was cast instead.)

Carrie Manolakos – “Creep“
This is, perhaps, my favourite cover of this song ever. When she hits the climax of the song at around 2:30? Chills, every time.
“What the hell am I doing here? / I don’t belong here”

Kina Grannis – “Iris“
“You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be / And I don’t want to go home right now”

Joy Williams – “Ordinary World“
Conclusion-to-the-main-mystery theme but also fits with rest of the book (including Waverly seeing the last wishes notebook).
“Still I can’t escape the ghost of you / What has happened to it all?” “Where is the life that I recognize? / It’s gone away”

Until the Ribbon Breaks – “One Way or Another (cover)“
Waverly finds the ring.
“One way or another I’m gonna find ya / I’m gonna get ya”

Sarah McLachlan – “I Love You“
Both a creepy obsessive love song and a good ending song for this book.

HARDCOVER EXTRAS:

The hardcover has an additional short stories–one was posted at Patreon, “Once Upon a Rainy Day”, but the other is an alternate POV scene from during A Wild Kind of Darkness, “Running Out of Sand”, and it’s only in the hardcover. That short had its own little playlist. The primary songs from it come up later in the series but:

Eddie Vedder – “Out of Sand“
The title reference comes from this song. This is a main series song and super important in the seventh book. But thematically it speaks to the short, of realizing your hourglass is already running out of sand, and your life has gone from the potential of what you’d thought it would be to a whole other path (I think this is probably very common in your forties but particularly when you have a gap of over ten years of memories).
“I stare at my reflection to the bone / Blurred eyes look back at me / Full of blame and sympathy / So, so close / Right roads not taken, the future’s forsaken / Dropped like a fossil or stone / Now it’s gone, gone / And I am who I am / Who I was I will never come again / Running out of sand”

SYML – “Fear of the Water“
Yes, this’ll come back as well.
“A knock at my door / I thought I was alone / Unaware of what I thought I needed / I dropped like a stone”

The complete list of Soundtrack Sunday posts are here.

A Wild Kind of Darkness is available everywhere (including signed paperback and hardcovers at Etsy).

Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Payhip | Paperback | Hardcover | Signed Paperback on Etsy | Signed Hardcover on Etsy