what songs stir your mystery novel writing?

One song I've gotten latched to lately I found when looking up a trope on TV Tropes.

A secondary character who quickly became important in the story was left for dead by a vampire after being brutally fed on. So I looked up the trope Left For Dead. One of the examples was Rob Dougan's "Left Me For Dead."

It does have lyrics, but has a good invocation kind of feeling for a strong desire for revenge. Very angry tone, as could be expected from someone left for dead and looking for their near-murderer to get vengeance. Can be found on YouTube.

Neko Case is great. I've been writing to a couple of her albums for three days now.

In the no-lyrics (or not so much lyrics), evocative vein, I have found Enya to work well for me. Movie soundtracks can work well too; "Titanic" and "Remains of the Day" both have given me good mood-setting. Some of the work of Mannheim Steamroller, and some of David Lanz and Paul Speare can also be good.

Something I don't have in digital form, just vinyl (I've been meaning to look up but haven't gotten around to finding the digital version) is Isao Tomita. His work is from the early years of synthesizers, and it is brilliant. I suppose it is ironic that in my music collection, the music that was the highest tech in its day is now in the lowest tech format available.

Another sort of music that works for me is the sort that is often played in alternative-healing situations, such as therapeutic massage settings. When I was learning biofeedback to combat migraines (it works!), I got these tapes on which the first side is a narrator leading guided meditation with music in the background, and the second side is the same music but without the narration.

Carol Anne

The past several days I've had the opening bars from the theme for the Mike Hammer TV show running through my mind. I'm writing a pulp-style detective novel and this started when my MC interviewed a "working girl" in a very steamy, suggestive scene. I've also found myself putting some nice pulp touches in, including a paragraph of what might be called "detective philosophy."

I've got a perfect Pandora station that my writer sister shared with me called The Perfect Dreamer. A few songs with lyrics snuck in, but it's mostly moody, atmospheric, and foreign. Started with the bands Area and Stars as Eyes, and has been seriously refined since then. If you want, sent me your e-mail and I'll share it with you!

Congratulations on being one of about 4 people I've ever met in my life who knows about this band. Luckily their stuff is back in print after taking a twenty-year hiatus. The CD's used to sell for $70 at the local used-music shop. I have all of them in original format.

In a similar vein, you might try This Mortal Coil. The first album It'll End In Tears is very good, but has more singing. Filigree and Shadow and Blood are very atmospheric. If you like big, sweeping movie sountracks, can't recommend Last of the Mohicans enough.

Edit: The Perfect Dream is probably Area's best album, too.

Thank you all. These suggestions are inspired..

I'm finding it allluring to deepen into the moody writing and the writing moods of my novel with this new Pandora Playing list.

Aisling

I listen to themes from the Alfred Hitchcock movies, including Psycho, Dial M for Murder, Vertigo...etc.

Also listen to French classics, b/c my murder mystery takes place in Paris.

The background music to games like Rule of Rose, Phoenix Wright, and others as well as anime BGMs are easy for me to write to.

I like Steeleye Span stuff - the lyrics may be grim, but the tunes they set the old Medieval/Early Modern folk songs to really get me going!

Have you ever heard of the Mediaeval Baebes? They have lyrics, but they are sung in Middle English and French, so most people can't understand it anyway. Also consider Enigma.

You guys are going to think I'm crazy. I think a lot of songs with mysterious lyrics are inspiring. I know you said no lyrics, but think about it: Metallica and Evanescence. Really. And even if you don't like that kind of music, just look up some of their song lyrics. Very inspiring to me. Though I've been inspired by many bands so far. Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance, Disturbed, and so many others. As for instrumental music, I like music that consists of just the classic piano. I used to be a big gamer and got a "Final Fantasy VII Piano Collections" CD, and I've found that two of the songs quite describe danger. Even terror. I love it.

Anything by Dream Theater, but especially their album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

Also, for my scenes for a particular character, the band Radical Face (album: Ghost).