Music to Draw To

What I'm listening to in February 2024

One of my favourite things to engage with is what people are listening to.

I create very strong associations with music and memory. When I first read The Lord of the Rings as an angsty pre-teen, I was in a big Tori Amos phase. Now when I hear Here In My Head, for example, I am transported back to that cold winter where I fell so deeply in love with Tolkien’s work. On the flipside, it’s a case of “that’s Tolkien music”, and it stays on playlists for when I am reading or drawing in that inspiration zone.

I will so often skip a favourite song if the association feels wrong. For client work, I can listen to whatever I like, but I have found that I have a mood of music that I need to get into a good workflow in my personal work. Regardless of genre, the music has to conjure something that triggers something of the “other”, for me to truly feel like its the right mood to get into the drawing dreamland. I appreciate that this is entirely intangible, but there it is.

So, at the moment, here’s a snippet of what’s on my current personal work playlist. For reference, my current projects include astronomy/astrology, Arthurian legend, Christmas cards (yeah) and a ton of wildlife pieces.

Chelsea Wolfe - Whispers in the Echo Chamber

Paris Paloma - Notre Dame

Alcest - Protection

Hozier - As It Was

Gealdyr - Jormungandr

Kiki Rockwell - Burn Your Village

Small Fools - A Secret Dialogue on the Side of a Mountain

Secret Gardens - Into the Owl’s Eye

Unprocessed - Glass

Myrkur - Spine

Nadiiife - Litha

Mogwai - Kings Meadow

Exploring Birdsong - Diamond Eyes

Neha! and Andy Aquarius - U Lisi

Health - DEAD FLOWERS

Honourable mention: Ghost Atlas/ERRA megamix

Thanks for reading! If you like, you can let me know what you are listening to, too.

A ✨❤️