All the Colours of the Dark · 11:36pm Dec 15th, 2016
Isn't it great when you stumble on a piece of music that dovetails perfectly with your story? I tend to picture scenes in an almost cinematic way, and every good movie needs a soundtrack. When I was writing Black Angel, I was lucky to find a couple of tracks that I felt were worth references in the story itself. And just in case any of your forgot. . .
"Black Angel" by The Cult was the track that Nightmare Moon requested from Vinyl Scratch. And yes, that's where the name of the story came from. I was always deliberately vague about who the black angel was in the story. Was it Nightmare Moon? Or was it her nemesis, the proto-Nyx? The song, however, is clearly referring to Death, who we also met back in chapter one! "The fugitive has been away so long; a thousand years, and now he thinks of home. . ." Yet he knows he'll face death when he arrives.
"Sleepwalker's Dream" by Delain is the song that Nightmare Moon sang to Spell Nexus when she was recruiting him to her cause. I think this works OK for Nightmare Moon, but it might even be better for Luna. Here we get her trying to show someone the beauty and wonders of her night, while also taking a protective rather than threatening role. In my mind this is almost a callback to the time before Luna invented Nightmare Moon.
And what brings all this to mind now? Well, I just got a new LP record that I am very happy with. It's "All the Colours of the Dark" by Federale. I like the whole album, but the title track is a real knockout. Check it. . .
This could actually be a better theme for Nightmare's seduction of Spell Nexus, although to do it justice I would have to go back and do some rewriting. It's probably best to leave the story alone, but I had to share the music. It really nails how I imagine Nightmare Moon's singing voice should sound, if only she'd ever been given a song of her own! (I doubt Spell Nexus would sound anywhere near as manly as the guy in this track, tho!)
I know what you mean, music is a primary part of my writing process, I never write without it. It colors my story, and helps me focus too.