I’ve been keeping this one under my hat for nearly a year now. Very exciting to announce that Snake Island will have its own original soundtrack, composed by a very talented Christopher Dicker.

I first met Chris as he was touring with his old band, House Vs Hurricane. My friend Mike was filling in for them on drums, and I got to spend some time with Chris, as he recorded some vocals on a demo I was putting together (which has sadly been lost to the decay of old computer systems and no backing up). He struck me as a very kind, very thoughtful bloke. And then we parted ways.

I was facebook friends with Chris but we never really interacted (which seems all facebook is really good for) but I saw him leave House vs Hurricane and eventually start writing piano compositions.

One day, in September last year, I was working on building some shelves for our kitchen and in the background I’d opened up Christopher’s Spotify page. His music was moving, beautiful, quiet, moody, all the things I value in piano music. And it struck me. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have some original compositions for Snake Island?

So I thought; what the hell! I’ll email him. Couldn’t hurt. I emailed him and he very quickly answered with excitement.

Thus began a series of emails, back and forth. I sent Chris a draft and he immediately responded to it (phew!) and soon sent back some demos of some songs he had written. Man, opening those files was something else. Just recordings on his phone, sometimes, sparked so much in me.

I purposefully didn’t give Chris much direction. I didn’t want to. I didn’t think it would be a good project if I came up with a series of moments I wanted him to write to. Instead I just sent him the text, and asked him to just see what sparked in him. What came out were a series of songs I would never have expected; moments that spoke to Chris I couldn’t have foreseen.

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In fact, Chris wrote an entire theme for a chapter that’s no longer in the book! During edits a chapter was excised for plotting purposes that Chris thought was so moving he wrote a song for the character it featured. This song will still be on the soundtrack. I love this! It’s like a ghostly remnant of a thing that no longer exists.

After Chris sent me demos it was time for me to get stuck into the structural edits that Allen & Unwin sent me. So, while I rewrote and tweaked and got stuck and got through, I was listening to Christopher’s music! My book inspired his music, which in turn inspired the book.

As I write this now I’m listening to a new recording Chris sent through on a preamp he’s purchased for the final recording and it is ear ice-cream. It is so rich and good. And you can hear all the little fragments from the piano. It sounds like a real piano! Authentic and immediate. What I was aiming for with the novel.

I’m really proud now to name Chris as a true friend (as in – not just facebook acquaintances) – the novel has sparked a series of conversations between us I hold very dear. Love, life, theology, hope, morality – he’s a true gent, and I’m so stoked to be partnered with him in this endeavour.

Below is a sneak peek of one of the tracks, one of the early demos Chris sent through. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Can I just say, in closing, out of all of this, that most of the great things that have happened to me in my life have happened because I’ve just given things a shot. It couldn’t hurt to ask. That sort of thing. And this is no exception. My life in Queensland, my marriage, my children, all hinged on one decision to give this beautiful girl I’d met in Queensland a call – it couldn’t hurt. My entire career – both of them – are hinged on one decision to pick up a bass guitar and start playing. My playing bass put me in a band, got me into university (where I also read all the creative writing books I could get my hands on), got me my current job as a music educator. It couldn’t hurt to just pick it up – what was the worst that could happen?

If you’re facing something in your life right now you’ve been putting off because the timing wasn’t right, or some other hedging excuse, just jump in. Sincerely.

What’s the worst that can happen?