Category Archives: Music, Movies, and other Muses

A line from a song, an image from a film, an unexpected moment of beauty in everyday life – my mind absorbs them all

Music Review: “Room,” Eivør Pálsdóttir

Posted in Music Reviews, Music, Movies, and other Muses by

I’m neither a professional musician nor a professional music critic or reviewer. But I love music, and I’ve blogged about it before, so I’m trying my hand at writing a review of one of my favorite singers and her newest album.

Eivør Pálsdóttir hails from the Faroe Islands, a small island chain about halfway between England and Iceland. Her musical résumé is long and prolific, with more than ten albums (solo and collaborations) to her name. I’m a relatively new fan, but thanks to the internet, I’ve been able to hear a lot of her older stuff as well as newer music.

One of my favorite things about Eivør is her diversity in music styles—she sings everything from folk to heavy metal to lyrical ballads to world music with a tribal flair. Her newest album, Room, was just released a few weeks ago by Tutl Records. I would classify the songs on this album to be some folk-rock, some singer/songwriter style, and all with a unique Eivør twist. As a whole, this album is a beautiful showcase for Eivør’s clear soprano voice.

Similar to some of her previous albums (such as Larva and Human Child), all of the songs but one on Room are in English. “Eg Veit,” the Faroese version of the song “I Know,” is available on the digital download version of the album.

Poignancy, bitter-sweet sorrow, and loving remembrance characterize the songs. The death of her father came as Eivør was putting together Room, and she’s dedicated the album to him. The powerful and loving influence that he must have had on her life is evident in songs like “Far Away.”

While I generally dislike sad songs, no matter the subject or how well they’re sung, even the saddest songs on Room are far from depressing. Every song is tinged with promise and beauty—like the mournful song “Green Garden,” which repeats the hopeful “…waiting for the earth’s orbit to bring back spring.”

Although I’ve already picked my favorite songs of the album (“Green Garden” and “Rain” are at the top of my list), as a whole Room floats and shines like mist over an island in a cold sea. It’s well worth a listen.

Since this is supposed to be a writing blog, after a fashion, then what does this glowing review of a singer you’ve probably never heard of have to do with writing? Nothing, maybe—or perhaps everything. Writing a great song takes as much talent and work as writing a great novel or writing a great blog post. Eivør writes what’s in her heart, and she’s not afraid to share it with the world. The world is a better place because of it, too. And it’s something we can all do—write, share, and be inspired by the beauty all around.

Eivør’s website: www.eivor.com

“Rain” – acoustic version, live in the studio

Darkness and Light

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

This blog entry doesn’t have a point—at least as far as useful insights or advice might go. This time I think I’ll just share my musings about two of my favorite songs (I have a lot of favorites, actually, but I’ll talk about just two here). I blogged a few weeks ago about music, how I use it in conjunction with my writing and so on—you can read it here, and I’ll try not to repeat myself for this post.

I titled this post “Darkness and Light” because of two songs that I’ve been listening to a lot lately, and that I find very inspirational for the novel that I’m working on. It also could serve as an analogy for the worlds in my fantasy novel. One country, called Pohjola, is a land of light—peace, happiness, and abundant light in the sky. The other land is called Ice-Dark, and it is appropriately dark—that’s where the bad guy lives, and there’s no sun or moon.

The “dark” song that I’m putting in this blog isn’t actually dark as in evil. It’s really about the positive side of darkness, both physical and poetic or philosophical darkness. One of my favorite lines, that I find especially inspiring for myself as a writer, is: “Imagining places that I’ve never seen, the morning of life and the end of all dreams…”

The song “Mercy of Darkness” is by Eivør Pálsdóttir, a brilliant singer and songwriter from the Faroe Islands. She has a version of this song in her native language as well, but I’ve put the English version here, gambling that more of my blog readers speak English than Faroese.

The “light” song is about actual light, as well it being a love song of sorts (at least that’s my interpretation). The title “Iđitguovssu” translates as “Dawn Light.” The singer, Máddji, is a Sami from Norway. As I mentioned in my previous post about music, part of my book takes place in Lapland or Samiland, and some of my characters are Sami.

I also happen to just really like Sami music, whether it be the traditional yoiks or the more modern music infused with flavors from other cultures.  This particular song just relaxes me, and if I’ve had a hectic day it helps to put me into a frame of mind for writing.

Does anybody else have a favorite “writing” song that provides you with comfort, inspiration, or just plain joy? Please share!

Olympics, London, and Other Stories

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses, Travel Writings, Writings about Writing by

I’m not really into sports at all, but I love watching the Olympics. I especially love the stories of the Olympics—athletes overcoming odd to get to the games, last-minute surprises and underdog victories, picking up and moving on when defeat hits.

Watching these past games in London brought to my memory the trip I took last year to visit London. The trip had nothing to do with the Olympics (I was just visiting a friend) and I was in a different part of the city, so the only evidence of the upcoming games that I saw was an Olympic count-down clock in Trafalgar Square.

But just like the Olympics, my personal experiences in London were full of stories. I might blog about it in more detail in the future—I could do an entire blog post alone on just the ancient Egypt exhibit at the British Museum, but for now I’ll just post one picture:

Part of an ancient Egyptian wall relief. Still pretty colors, after thousands of years!

There were plenty of little memorable moments that I could easily turn into a blog post, or even use as a prompt for a fictionalized story—like our mad dash through King’s Cross Station asking anybody we could where Platform 9 ¾ was, or my attempt at eating so-called B-B-Q chicken at an Italian restaurant that was run by Pakistanis.

I also made a quick detour by Norway on my way home from London. More stories could come from that short trip—like me accidently dropping a bottle of Pepsi at the grocery store and frantically wondering how to apologize in Norwegian when the thing exploded all over the aisle, or getting up at 3am to go catch the plane home and seeing that the sun had already risen.

So below I’m including a few more pictures of some of these random little moments. Each picture could be a story in itself, or I might use some of my adventures as prompts or fodder for future fiction stories. And if any of these pictures prompt an idea for a story in your mind, please go ahead and follow that prompting and write! Inspiration can be found anywhere!

London:

Anybody want a sewing machine? There’s got to be a story behind this one.

Old winding steps. Every foot that ever walked on these steps had a story to tell.

Bergen, Norway:

Another intriguing potential story–what’s up with all the doors opening into the air? Gotta watch that first step…

There be trolls in the forests of Norway!

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Has anyone else felt prompted or inspired by one little glimpse of something, or one picture or one incident? What stories do these pictures make you want to tell?

Music to write by

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

I never listen to music while I write. Songs with words are way too distracting when I’m trying to come up with words of my own. Even instrumental music can be a distraction for me, unless it’s so in the background that I can ignore it, like blending with voices and other noises at a coffee shop.

That being said, when I’m not writing, I love listening to music. I’ll often just sit with my eyes closed, doing nothing but listening to a piece of music. I also listen to music while I’m driving (not with my eyes closed). It’s during these times of contemplative listening that I either get ideas for a story, or am able to delve deeper into the world of what I’m currently writing.

For the fantasy story I’m working on right now, I have several pieces of music that are my go-to tracks to get me into the right mind-set. Many of these tracks are by a band called Angelit, formerly called Angelin Tytöt. The band is from a tiny place called Angeli, in northern Finland. (Angelin Tytöt means “The Girls of Angeli,” and Angelit translates as something close to “The Angelis”).

Angelit’s music instantly takes me far away, both to real places I’ve never been, and imaginary places where I have been. If I’m brainstorming about a fast-paced scene I need to write, like a battle or some other adventure, I’ll listen to a song like “Garkit.” The loud beat and almost soundtrack-like quality conjures up the images I need, and I’m ready to go.

A more relaxing, mesmerizing song like “Gidda Beaivvas” lets my mind wander more slowly through my world. Sometimes images put to the music helps, sometimes all I have to do is listen.

 

The underlying theme in all of Angelit’s music is the Sami yoik and traditional music sounds. The band members belong to the Sami people (also known as Lapps)–the indigenous people who live in the high arctic of northern Scandinavia. Angelit usually sings in their native Sami dialect, rather than Finnish, and they incorporate variations of the Sami traditional “yoik” singing into their music.

This cultural backdrop is another reason why Angelit’s music serves as my muse for my story. The story is set in Lapland in northern Finland (yes, I promise it’s a fantasy story), and some of my characters are Sami. I realize that some cultural inaccuracies will occur, since I’m not a Sami and haven’t been there, but give me a little leeway–it really is a fantasy story, and the majority of it does not take place in Lapland. But whether I’m writing a scene that’s set in a real place or set in a place of my own making, the songs of Angelit always get my creativity going.

I’d love to hear some feedback! Any other writers out there who have a go-to song or two to get your creative juices flowing?

3 Reasons Why I Love Beatrix Potter

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses, Writings about Writing by

A few days ago I re-watched one of my favorite movies of all time—Miss Potter. In case you haven’t seen it, the film is a reasonably accurate portrayal of a span of several years in the life of Beatrix Potter. It covers her journey from a single woman bored with life with her parents and their pretentions at aristocracy to her life as a published author and wealthy community leader. The film stars Reneé Zellweger and Ewan McGregor (that should be reason enough to see it, with that line-up…)

Number 1: I love Beatrix Potter because she wrote some awesome stories. For a hundred years now, children have read and loved the stories about Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and all the rest.

One of my personal favorites was The Roly-Poly Pudding (or The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, depending on the edition). There was something about that story that was creepy but fun, like ghost stories around a campfire. In the story it was chillingly cool that the house was so big that Tom Kitten could get lost for days before anyone might find him and that the walls were three feet thick.

In reality, if I lived in a house where I could hear dancing and partying inside the walls, and there were rats big enough to run off with things like rolling pins, I’d move. But Beatrix Potter turned it into an adventure story, complete with the thinly-veiled moral of “always obey your mother.”

Number 2: I love Beatrix Potter because her life inspired the Miss Potter movie. Did I mention that this movie is one of my all-time favorites?

One of the things I love most about the movie is the way that the director brings the audience not just into Beatrix’s life, but into her creative process and into her mind. There are little moments—just a few, and very subtle—when Beatrix’s drawings come to life and respond to her. These moments are not long or overt and don’t interfere with the stodgy Victorian setting—they’re just little animated tweaks that let the viewer know how deeply Beatrix was involved with her characters and art. How real they were to her.

As a writer, I can readily identify with this concept. My characters are my friends; I enjoy spending time with them, and sometimes we even argue. For example, right now one of my characters (Teija is her name, and she’s normally a somewhat timid girl) is loudly banging on my mind to remind me that I left her last scene hanging much too long ago and when am I going to finish it already.

There’s a scene in Miss Potter when Beatrix is trying to cope with a sudden tragedy in her life and she stays up all night sketching—only to have her beloved Peter turn away from her as she’s drawing. Peter Rabbit, frightened by his creator’s sadness and anger, flees from her, running away through the various drawings scattered across her desk.

The pencil sketch of Peter Rabbit hides behind some flower pots in one drawing and peer out at her, as if to give her firm instructions: “don’t you dare try to paint me or tell my story until you’re in a better frame of mind.” Peter may be a troublemaker of a little bunny most of the time, but in that instance, he is giving his creator some sorely-needed guidance.

Any other writers or artists out there besides me and the movie Beatrix who have experienced this? Have you ever felt guided (or even pushed) by your characters, instead of the other way around?

Number 3: I love Beatrix Potter because she achieved every writer’s dream. No, not every author or artist wants to live on a farm in the country raising sheep, but she did that because she loved it and she was making enough money with her books to live the lifestyle that she wanted. Control over their own life is every person’s dream to one extent or another, I believe. Not everyone will achieve this dream—and not every writer will get rich with their books—but the way I see it, if even one person did it, then there’s a chance that someone else can, too.

Beatrix Potter not only gained control of her lifestyle with her books, but she accomplished what is perhaps an even deeper universal dream—she created a legacy. She wrote something worth reading long after she was gone. More than 50 years after her death, and her stories and drawings are still bringing joy to children everywhere.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Any other fans of Beatrix Potter out there? What author’s life story has inspired you?

peterrabbit_group_800

Some legal disclaimers, just in case…

Frederick Warne and Co owns all rights and copyrights to Beatrix Potter’s works

Miss Potter, 2006 by Phoenix Pictures, directed by Chris Noonan