A few, unnamed, I love but have listened to so much I need a break from them. Others, like Hot Snakes, are already given a nod in the book itself. So, for example, I listen to Murder by Death a lot, one major part of that the soundtrack they did for my novel Finch-which conjures up such an atmosphere it has been of use in writing every novel since. Some bands I could’ve included here, I haven’t because in the context of Dead Astronauts they’re too self-referential. (For this reason, the ethereal precision of The Church figures prominently in those 900 songs.) A driving beat or a lovely piano bridge were equally important, but also certain kinds of approaches to guitar. Thus the music I was listening to has at times an operatic feel and at times is stripped down to a post-punk aesthetic. These are big, almost operatic emotions that manifest in the novel in both bold, over-the-top ways and in a minor key, with intricate little eddies and shifts in perspective. Yet pervading everything in Dead Astronauts is a dual sense of anger and defiance mixed with acceptance and loss.
In the case of Dead Astronauts, there are ten sections and ten different perspectives and styles. I have to be in the right headspace to stay within the style and voice of the novel. But loving an album isn’t enough-I write very much by feel and music is essential to that.
The 23 songs here are either favorites or representative of albums I love. The Dead Astronauts “mix tape” consists of 900 songs, played on shuffle unless I needed to summon a certain emotion for a particular scene.
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