Christopher Hivner's Blog - Posts Tagged "music"
The Elusive Muse
Like most writers I use outside influences as inspirations. Music is my muse of choice. It can’t be anything with too many lyrics, or at least lyrics in English, because they’re too distracting. And it depends on what I want to write as to what I listen to. If I’m in my horror mode it will be death or doom metal. The music itself is perfect to create a dark, menacing mood and even though the songs have lyrics, you can’t understand a blind word because it’s mostly growls and grunts. I’ve written some good horror poems while listening to Beyond Black Void, a one-off project by a Belgian guitar player to create the most depressing doom metal ever written. I also like to write to Ahab and Burzum.
If I’m writing my mainstream poetry I’m very partial to Azam Ali either as a solo artist or with Vas or Niyaz. She has a gorgeous voice but sings entirely in Persian or other languages so instead of the lyrics distracting me, her sensual voice becomes another instrument mixed with the music. I also love Dead Can Dance. Lisa Gerrard is another female singer with a mesmerizing voice who sings almost entirely in other languages or made up sounds. When Brendan Perry sings it’s in English which can sometimes break my concentration. I just recently discovered a Norwegian group, Arcana, which also puts me in a good frame of mind, as well as Delerium.
Ambient music in general puts me in the mood to write: Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, David Parsons, Mind Over Matter, Appalachian Falls, etc. Here are a couple of links:
Vas -- Sunyata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgRVV...
Dead Can Dance -- Yulunga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqUbb...
David Parsons -- Himalaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0sOSA...
Beyond Black Void -- Desolate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEs30Y...
Photographs and art work are also rich sources of inspiration for me. The simple photograph of a steer a few years ago gave me the idea for my short story “The Way of the Land” which was set in a medieval time period. I’ve written two poems after studying the painting Entres Les Trous de la Memoire by Dominique Appia. Recently I was trying to write a large batch of horror poems for a particular project. I started to run out of ideas so I opened a book I have on the work of Hieronymus Bosch. Concentrating on parts of The Last Judgment helped me to write three poems I was very happy with.
Entres Les Trous de la Memoire
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Entre-m%C3%A9...
A piece of The Last Judgment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/profzuck...
Recently I’ve made myself work a little harder. I was again in the mood to write some horror poetry but I wasn’t at home with easy access to my music or any artwork. I decided to look around the room I was in and write about the first thing that I saw. Over the next hour I wrote a poem from the starting point of a telephone and another from a yellow box of tissues. Later that night, back at home, I continued the experiment with a take-out menu and a container of powder. I’m working on one right now that started with a pine tree.
Here is the silly poem I wrote after glancing at a Chinese take-out menu:
The menu said
“finger sandwiches”
but I didn’t expect
a ham and cheese on rye
flipping me off
I know, not exactly Pablo Neruda, but it made me laugh.
If I’m writing my mainstream poetry I’m very partial to Azam Ali either as a solo artist or with Vas or Niyaz. She has a gorgeous voice but sings entirely in Persian or other languages so instead of the lyrics distracting me, her sensual voice becomes another instrument mixed with the music. I also love Dead Can Dance. Lisa Gerrard is another female singer with a mesmerizing voice who sings almost entirely in other languages or made up sounds. When Brendan Perry sings it’s in English which can sometimes break my concentration. I just recently discovered a Norwegian group, Arcana, which also puts me in a good frame of mind, as well as Delerium.
Ambient music in general puts me in the mood to write: Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, David Parsons, Mind Over Matter, Appalachian Falls, etc. Here are a couple of links:
Vas -- Sunyata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgRVV...
Dead Can Dance -- Yulunga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqUbb...
David Parsons -- Himalaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0sOSA...
Beyond Black Void -- Desolate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEs30Y...
Photographs and art work are also rich sources of inspiration for me. The simple photograph of a steer a few years ago gave me the idea for my short story “The Way of the Land” which was set in a medieval time period. I’ve written two poems after studying the painting Entres Les Trous de la Memoire by Dominique Appia. Recently I was trying to write a large batch of horror poems for a particular project. I started to run out of ideas so I opened a book I have on the work of Hieronymus Bosch. Concentrating on parts of The Last Judgment helped me to write three poems I was very happy with.
Entres Les Trous de la Memoire
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Entre-m%C3%A9...
A piece of The Last Judgment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/profzuck...
Recently I’ve made myself work a little harder. I was again in the mood to write some horror poetry but I wasn’t at home with easy access to my music or any artwork. I decided to look around the room I was in and write about the first thing that I saw. Over the next hour I wrote a poem from the starting point of a telephone and another from a yellow box of tissues. Later that night, back at home, I continued the experiment with a take-out menu and a container of powder. I’m working on one right now that started with a pine tree.
Here is the silly poem I wrote after glancing at a Chinese take-out menu:
The menu said
“finger sandwiches”
but I didn’t expect
a ham and cheese on rye
flipping me off
I know, not exactly Pablo Neruda, but it made me laugh.
