Devilry: The Soundtrack
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Devilry trilogy, here is a soundtrack.
I wanted this to have a narrative, so it loosely follows the progress of the stories. The song order reflects a dialogue between Torsten and Laura's points of view, although not slavishly. It's a very eclectic mixture of genres; some songs aren't even in the kinds of genres I listen to much, but the lyrics and/or the mood just fit the characters and the situations in the story. Some songs are new discoveries that just happened to work, others are cherished ones I was listening to between bouts of writing. (Ok, yes, I mean the Lana ones; I've even had three people tell me that Off To The Races always makes them think of Torsten and Laura. Holy crap!)
So, here we go.
Track listing:
1. Drew Lerdal ft. Sophia Shorai: Chimes at Midnight
2. Alice Cooper: Dangerous Tonight
3. Eartha Kitt: I Want to be Evil
4. The Bravery: Hatefuck
5. Lana Del Rey: Million Dollar Man
6. Hippie Sabotage: Devil Eyes (Golden)
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees: Melt!
8. Iggy and the Stooges: Penetration
9. Lana Del Rey: Off To The Races
10. Leonard Cohen: The Future (Edit)
11. Siouxsie and the Banshees: Placebo Effect (The Thorn version)
12. Misfits: She
13. Lana Del Rey: Noir
14. Les Baxter feat. Will Holt: Sinnerman
15. Gjallarhorn: I Riden Så (Ye Ride So Carefully)
16. Drew Lerdal ft. Sophia Shorai: Chimes at Midnight (reprise)
A .rar file includes the mp3s, a Winamp(!) playlist, and lyrics to all the songs (including an English translation of the one song in Swedish).
Download here.
Song introductions below the cut. These will, indeed, contain spoilers to those of you who haven't read the whole thing.
1. Drew Lerdal ft. Sophia Shorai: Chimes at Midnight
Something wicked, singing in the wind/Devil's dances, waiting to begin/Hear it calling, hear how it whispers/I will find you/I'll come and find you
I think the lyrics will tell you everything. It's pretty eerie how well this little thing fits.
2. Alice Cooper: Dangerous Tonight
If you let me, I'll untie/Your sensuality/I'll open up your heart/And satisfy my greed
It's evil seduction time. This is Torsten's POV; he fancies himself a devilish seducer all right.
3. Eartha Kitt: I Want to be Evil
Well, I'm tired of being pure and not chased/Like something that seeks its level/I wanna go to the Devil/I wanna be evil
Laura's POV: the little girl who's tired of being a little girl. "I want to bite into life, and to be torn by it," as Anaïs so beautifully put it.
4. The Bravery: Hatefuck
If I put my hands around your wrists, would you fight them?/If I put my fingers in your mouth, would you bite them?/So many things that I would do if I had my way with you
Torsten's POV again; after he's seduced Laura, he's now relishing the world of kinky play opening up for them. The punk/metal and aggression goes with his adolescence, his inability to grow up.
5. Lana Del Rey: Million Dollar Man
And I don't know how you get over, get over/Someone as dangerous, tainted and flawed as you
I don't think I need to explain this one. It's perfect for Connie's elegant, talkie-era hommes fatals. I wouldn't have made that fanvid of it otherwise.
6. Hippie Sabotage: Devil Eyes (Golden)
They can never break us down/Cause we're golden/They about to see us glow/Cause we're golden
This, and the following two songs, are all about their drunkenness of their debauchery, all that luxurious indulgence that they are swimming in, following the road of excess to the palace of wisdom. Those golden fruits of life are now being bitten into, and they are drunk with the nectar.
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees: Melt!
You are the melting men/And as you melt, you are beheaded/Handcuffed in lace & blood & sperm/Swimming in poison, gasping in the fragrance/Sweat carves a screenplay of discipline/And devotion
Possibly the sexiest song I've ever heard, lush with dreamlike visions of dark eroticism. This is very illustrative of the sensuousness, the lush atmosphere that Torsten and Laura sought to cultivate, especially around the middle of the trilogy. This song was definitely an inspiration--echoed in Torsten's orchids, their hothouse of sex, their mirrored bedroom, all the fragrances and sticky juices of sex and blood and wine. A song that makes you drunk with dark, Romantic sex.
8. Iggy and the Stooges: Penetration
Penetrate/Penetrate me/So fine, so fine, so fine
Horny bisexual Torsten again, having a wild, slutty night out. This is when they start to really go off the rails, towards the end of Dance With The Devil and the beginning of The Fall of Angels.
9. Lana Del Rey: Off To The Races
My old man is a bad man/But I can't deny the way he holds my hand/And he grabs me, he has me by my heart
Laura totally off her tits on sex and drugs and wild revels, completely unhinged by the start of The Fall of Angels.
10. Leonard Cohen: The Future (Edit)
Give me back my broken night/My mirrored room, my secret life/It's lonely here, there's no one left to torture/Give me absolute control/Over every living soul/And lie beside me, baby/That's an order!
We're in The Fall of Angels, now. Torsten is embittered and cold and traumatised at the beginning of the story, and could more or less destroy the entire world were he given a button to do so.
11. Siouxsie and the Banshees: Placebo Effect (The Thorn version)
You dip your hands into my flesh/And say you won't reveal a scar/I must have faith in this procedure/It's a miracle - It's a wonder
A traumatic exploration of medical--especially psychiatric--abuse. Thus, it's Laura at the mercies of Segert in the asylum. Horrific and frigid and you can hear the echoes of the cold, dead walls and metal surfaces here.
12. Misfits: She
She loves naked sin/He loves evil sex/She has lost control/They are growing old
And when she gets out, there will be bodies.
13. Lana Del Rey: Noir
Cause I'm glamorous! I'm famous!/Notorious, dangerous, but I'm crazy!/Glamorous! Dangerous!/Notorious, famous, but I'm crazy!
The brakes are broken by this point and they're hurtling towards the point of no return.
14. Les Baxter feat. Will Holt: Sinnerman
Well, then, Satan, Satan,/Won't you hide me?
Torsten reflecting at the end of The Fall of Angels, realising his own mortality, but nevertheless retaining an adolescent devilry about it. If he's damned, so be it.
15. Gjallarhorn: I Riden Så (Ye Ride So Carefully)
Woe is me, woe is me, what I now see/I see my daughter, she's coming towards me
The Swedish folk song Torsten plays at the piano towards the end of The Fall of Angels.
16. Drew Lerdal ft. Sophia Shorai: Chimes at Midnight (reprise)
Something wicked, singing in the wind/Devil's dances, waiting to begin/Hear it calling, hear how it whispers/I will find you/I'll come and find you
The little girl and her father, dancing forever in Hell.
So, here 'tis. Hope you like it! And do let me know if there are any problems with the files.