Music is a big part of my writing life, and I make a playlist for every novel, to help me keep a sense of the novel’s themes and tones in my mind. I may play it while I’m working, but more often, I just put it on while I’m driving or doing laundry, to keep my imagination chugging away in a direction I want it to go.

Here’s my playlist for my novel The Valkyrie, which you can find on Tidal or on Spotify. I’ll talk below about the connections to the novel, and so I’ll touch on some plot and character elements, but I’ll avoid major spoilers.

1. Heart of My Own, by Basia Bulat. I love the version from the orchestral remix album, The Garden, but the original version is great too. I started listening to this song partway through the process of writing this novel, and I was astonished and how perfectly it seemed to capture what I was trying to capture (not surprising, given the allusions to folklore and female archetypes in the song.) Honestly, it could be the novel’s theme song. Even down to the imagery: I’ve been the thorn, I’ve been the heart… This novel features the legendary figure of Brynhild, who sleeps after pricking her finger with a thorn, and Gudrun, who is known for her rose garden: There are roses that come without seeking, there are the ones that I have to sow…
2. Wolves, by Martha Wainwright with Rufus Wainwright. This song seemed to follow on from the line in Heart of My Own: I wrote on these walls a simple charm to keep the wolves at bay… The Wainwright siblings write complicated relationships so well, and this song put me in the right frame of mind to think about Brynhild’s relationship with Odin. This song also has flowers and garden imagery too.
3. Ruoktu, by Adjagas. Adjagas is an amazing band that makes gorgeous music based in Sámi traditions, which seemed appropriate for a novel based in part on Scandinavian stories. Ruoktu means “home”, and home and the lack of a home is a major theme in the novel; my working title was Brynhild in Exile.
4. Comin’ Home, by Murder by Death. One of my favourite bands. This song comes from a concept album that tells a story, but it seemed to fit my story too, especially the emotions Brynhild is trying to summon as she finds herself exiled back to Midgard.
5. Piece of My Heart, by Erma Franklin. So, one of the key elements in the story cycle that I’m retelling in The Valkyrie is the death of Fafnir, the dragon (or the similar creature known as a lindworm, as in my version.) As everyone knows, dragon hearts have power, and if you eat one, you can get power too. In the stories, Sigurd/Siegfried burns his thumb while cooking pieces of the heart for someone else, and pops said thumb in his mouth, as one does, and ends up getting something in return (this has always reminded me of the story of Finn Mac Cool and the salmon, in Irish stories.) This is a long winded way of explaining my private playlist joke that made me chortle every time. But it’s not only the playlist equivalent of a dad joke; the novel also has a woman who is done wrong by a man around the same time, so it works on an emotional level too. I’ve always thought the Erma Franklin and Janice Joplin performanes were so different that they are telling completely different stories, and this version seemed to fit the way my character would be reacting.
6. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, by Bob Dylan. Another song for the break-up at this point in the novel, which really is all right. I’m not mad; I’m disappointed.
7. Krigsgaldr, by Heilung. Heilung is just the perfect band to listen to while writing about great migrations across Europe thousands of years ago. This is a war song, and this is a novel about a war. I dare you to listen to this and not imagine vast fur-clad armies, emerging from foggy valleys, to blow on long horns and beat their shields.
8. Magpie to the Morning, by Neko Case. One of my favourite songs, and birds feature heavily in this novel. Which brings us to…
9. Nightjar, by Cosmo Sheldrake. I listened to this whole album a lot while writing The Valkyrie. This song in particular spoke to me, because there’s a scene with a nightjar in Chapter 21, which has the line: “The talent of birds is to tell appalling news in sweet music.”
10. The Time of Axe and Sword Is Now, from the Witcher soundtrack. I love this whole soundtrack, which is full of interesting instrumentation, and this is another war song.
11. Draumar Mange, by Grex Vocalis. This is part of a Norwegian medieval ballad about a journey to the afterlife, set to music. Again, the Scandinavian roots seemed appropriate, and this is a novel about a Valkyrie, so afterlives figure in.
12. Swan Lake, Finale, Tchaikovsky. This is one of the most evocative pieces of music I know, and beyond that, there are a few points of connection between the story of the ballet and the old stories of Brynhild.
13. Mehcinut, by Jeremy Dutcher. This is a beautiful death song in the Wolastoqey language, sung by one of my favourite musicians. Like I said, a novel about a Valkyrie is going to be in some ways a novel about death.
14. Deeper Well, by Emmylou Harris. Most of my novel playlists end up with at least one song from the album Wrecking Ball; it’s just such a brilliant album, and inspires me to be a better writer. This is a song for Gudrun; an early draft of the novel had a scene where she goes to bargain with the spirit of a well. That scene is no longer in the novel, but water and magic are, and this felt like a song that marked out Gudrun’s arc. Plus, that drum.
15. Birds and Ships, by Billy Bragg, Wilco, and Natalie Merchant. This is a Woody Guthrie song, and so quiet and beautiful. Like many other songs on this list, it’s lyrically fitting for a certain part of the novel, and left me with the right feeling about where I wanted the book to take the reader. I sing this one all the time.