Music to write to: Progressed

So as you may (or may not) have noticed by my relative inactivity for the last week, I've kind of run out of things to blog about!

Already? But you just started!


Apparently so. It might have something to do with real life drama's becoming, for once, more overwhelming than the drama's being played out in my head! Having some serious house mate issues, spliced with a dash of stomach bug to contend with. So, understandably I'm feeling a little uninspired.  So I thought I'd write about something that helps me write, and that's music!

I'm going to do a segment, hopefully every week for a little while until I get my 'mojo' back!

Listening to music whilst writing is a very touchy subject for some people. Some can't write with it, some can't write without it. I'm in the later group. Music is a big part of building an atmosphere for me and as a result I have different play lists set up in my iTunes for different moods.

So, this week's Album of choice: Progressed by Take That



Genre's suitable for: Contemporary, Futuristic, Science Fiction

Personal highlights: Love Love, SOS, Underground Machine, Man

The marketing of this album bugged me. Take That released their album 'Progress' in November 2010 and it was their first album as a fully reunited group, i.e. with Robbie Williams back. (If this is all going over the heads of my American readers, I do apologise!) However, in June 2011 they RE-RELEASED the album with 8 new tracks and retitled it 'Progressed'. It was a very similar thing to what Lady Gaga did with The Fame, and then The Fame Monster. It's a kick in the teeth for fans that buy the first album, and then have to essentially buy the first album again to get the extra tracks.

But enough about bad record label choices. On to the writing side of things!

To me, the album has a very industrial (I use that term VERY lightly because I do know there is a very large genre of music that is ACTUALLY called industrial and I do not wish to offend) theme running through it, without departing from what can be considered 'pop' music. My absolute favourite song from this album is Love Love because it was the song in the closing credits of 'X-men: First class' (which I adore) and it always reminds me of the film.

From the angle of using this as a background to writing, the sound of the music is very important, especially for science fiction because most things in science fiction tend to rely heavily on machines, and the sound of this album can be very mechanical at times. But in a good way. The second thing is the lyrics. In one song especially, SOS, the lyrics are very poignant of our future and remind me somewhat of Beth Revis' book Across the Universe (which I haven't finished so don't spoil me!). There aren't parallels in the lyrics to the book, so I'm not spoiling anyone who hasn't read it, but there are sort of, themes that are similar. If you've read the book you might know what I'm talking about.

Here are some of the lyrics which make me think:

"When the levee breaks 
And Manhattan sinks 
There won't be water fit to drink 
When the winter's warm 
And the summer's cold 
The poison stops you looking old"


"No antibiotic can save us now 
No, no, no, no, no 
We are the virus that we talk about"


I'm going to leave you with the Love Love video. There are some clips of X Men in it, including my gorgeous Michael Fassbender as Magneto. I sure do 'Love Love' that man. Sorry. It had to be done.






I'm going to be possibly doing this segment every week, for a few weeks at least, breaking down the favourite music that I write to, and what genre's they inspire me to write for. I hope you find this segment interesting! Perhaps you'll find a new group or artist that appeals to your music tastes, or fits nicely in with what you're writing! 


Sarah x


EDIT: Also, if you're not following me through blogger, and are still interested in what I have to say (which I hope you are!) then you're going to have to switch to the Linky Follower, because at the beginning of March Google Friend Connect will cease to be working/exist! (I don't understand why, but there we go.)