#She's one of the singers of “The Crane Wives”

[morimess]

FILL ME UP

POUR ME OUT

WASH HER NAME OUT OF MY MOUTH

I AM READY TO BE CLEAN

BURN MY LUNGS AND SHE WAS GONE

LONG BEFORE THE LIGHTS WENT ON

GOD I HOPE SHE'S DONE WITH ME

DO YOU BEG?

DO YOU PRAY?

TELL ME HOW YOU GET AWAY

FROM THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD

I AM LOST

I'VE BEEN DONE

LONG BEFORE THE LIGHTS WENT ON

SOMEONE PLEASE PUT ME TO BED

Cause I-

I AM NOT WELL

[finleycannotdraw]

can u recommend some bands? i think i like ur music taste and i am terrible at finding music

ty :)

of COURSE I can <3 you’ve probably heard of some of these, but maybe there’ll be some you haven’t! I don’t know what you already like, so… here we go :)

Hozier. Yeah this was always going to be first on the list I’m currently listening to basically nothing else! He’s an Irish folk/soul/blues/etc idk musician who uses a lot of religious and mythological themes in his lyrics and has a lot of songs that include social justice commentary.

The Amazing Devil is a folk rock band with an incredibly unique sound. Their songs are incredibly emotional and have an awesome fantasy vibe going on—plus there’s two singers, and they often sing independently from each other, which is something you don’t see often!

Good Morning Bedlam is a bluegrass band that I’ve gotten into recently! They’re sort of like… a mix of the amazing devil and the crane wives?

The Crane Wives, while we’re at it, and

The Oh Hellos. they’re fairly similar and I don’t have a ton to say about their stylistic differences, but they’re all definitely worth checking out!

Florence & The Machine. Most people have heard of them but I always like to recommend them anyway

Alec Benjamin, if you’re into softer indie music! He has a lot of different styles of lyrics, but his voice is consistent, so he’s great to listen to if you’re looking for that sort of variety.

Chxrlotte doesn’t have a lot of music out, but I’m a big fan of the music she has released, including the ones about Good Omens! The others are more angsty which I love too.

The Family Crest is an orchestral indie pop rock band, which blows my mind. I can’t believe orchestra isn’t a more utilized tool in popular lyrical music, because they do it so well.

Good Kid is actually my brother’s favorite band, and I love them too. They’re also indie rock, but they have a very distinctive style and are easy to get into! Plus they haven’t released a shit ton of songs like some other artists, so it isn’t overwhelming to explore their discography.

Jonatha Brooke is an artist I only know about because my mom liked her music a lot in the 90s, but she’s got a super nice voice and has some awesomely relatable lyrics. I especially recommend her album Ten Cent Wings!

Midlake is a super melodic folk rock band. I’m obsessed with their album The Courage of Others, which has a melancholy vibe that’s super easy to get lost in.

Palaye Royale is harder rock than anyone else on the list so far, but they’ve got an awesome style. Unique voice and definitely darker themes in their lyrics.

Tears for Fears is a pop rock band that I love because my dad does. (My parents are musicians—I trust their music taste).

Toad the Wet Sprocket got their name from Monty Python, but PLEASE go listen to the Architect of the Ruin EP. You will not regret it. Also the song Something’s Always Wrong is like… entrenched in my very being.

Elbow is a band that I never see in fandom circles, but they’re definitely not obscure. Check out their album Little Fictions! They’re kind of like Midlake.

Will Wood ranges from chaotic and fun (The Normal Album) to absolutely soul-crushing (in case I make it)! Sometimes even both at the same time!

(I would’ve also put Paramore, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and other rock/pop punk bands I like on there, but I assumed you already know them.) (If you were looking for harder rock or metal, let me know, because this list is not that.)

If you want more genre-specific recs or even album/song recs, don’t hesitate to ask!! Music is the fuel of my soul.

[bronzetomatoes]

I have no idea what the lead singer of the Crane Wives looks like but ik she's one of the most attractive women in the world

[fishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT HOW THE UNRAVELLING BY THE CRANE WIVES FITS THE ALBATRIO PERFECTLY?!?!?!

The song talks about four lovers and the service they provided to the singer to keep them fit and healthy. each of the alba-trio had one person that meant everything to them and took care of them before being taken from them before they could finish their mentoring.

if you use your imagination and imply that the love the song describes is familial and platonic then i think it creates a really nice story that fits the characters well.

Verse One -

I once loved a tailor who took eager care of me Sewed together my loose ends with stitches neat and clean But now my love is gone And I am left unravelling. Unravelling

I think of this verse as referring to Jay and her older sister Ava.

[Art Credits to Lanladesu on Twitter]

Ava took care of Jay when they were little and when Ava was old enough to join, she was killed in a Navy fight against a group of pirates. Jay being a few years younger wasn't of age to join and was left to finish growing up dealing with grief and without her older sister to guide her.

Also the image of Tween Ava helping Child Jay up after a fall and stitching the torn knees of her trousers with colourful thread while Jay cleans up is something i need in my life

Verse Two -

I once loved a gardener with his dirt-smudged face and hands Trimmed my weeds and gave me room to grow my flowers again But now my love is gone And I am left here withering Withering

This verse to me is representative of Chip and Arlin.

[Art Credits to Skywerse on Tumblr]

Arlin picked up a small orphan boy with no real future outside the dirty streets and took him under his wing. He gave Chip a chance to blossom and grow as a person. Before he could give Chip all the skills and time he would need to have the best chance in life, he was lost to the sea. The events of the Hole in the Sea left Chip alone and stunted in life.

The end of the verse describing the singer as withering is ESPECIALLY relevant in Chips case due to the whole undead thing. His search for Arlin literally left him Withering

Verse three -

I once loved a carpenter who carved a smile for me. Sanded my rough edges, crafted new and lovely things But now my love is gone And I can’t help the fracturing

Gillion had many many people mentoring him in his time in the undersea but i think this works best with Finn.

[Credits to Boilingheart on Tumblr]

Gillion was being Carved into the perfect warrior. he was taught to fight hard and be ruthless. Finn however taught gillion about literature and culture. Finn was the only mentor Gillion had that seemed to care about him past what he's worth. Finn left for the oversea without notice or warning leaving Gillion without a single person to genuinely care for him. Between loosing Finn and then being exiled causing him to loose everything else, Gillions discipline and sense of morals took a few hard hits.

When gillion looses his high maintenance lifestyle he begins breaking like a rusty sword and fracturing like a wooden statue left to the elements.

Verse Four -

I once loved a man who kissed me once before he left Tied me up in knots and said he’d soon return again But now my love is gone And I am left unraveling Unraveling Unraveling

This verse is true of each duo. Their Mentor left too early, before each of the Riptide Pirates had time to fully grow and now they are left mentally in the past without the guidance of the most important people in their individual lives who never got to finish teaching them.

AAAAAAA THEY ARE JUST LITTLE FUCKED UP FREAKS WHO NEVER GOT ENOUGH LOVEEEEEEEBFEIU CGBVFUAGEUKF TUMBLR DO YOU HEAR MEEE?!?!?!?!

[brokenchainsforgedbonds]

[lost characters as crane wives characters. lets go]

[jack shepherd - know how]

[fundamentally a song about anxiety and not being able to move on, feeling trapped and resistant to let things change even when it should be for the better. jack can't move on, it's a fundamental driver of the story, he always feels like he can't be done with anything.]

[kate austen - easier]

[ive talked about this before but. its literally her. girl who feels like she cant ever find peace staying in one place. girl who just wants to settle down but can never find a way to cure that aching in her chest to move.]

[john locke - new discovery]

[john felt like he was stuck, a sad old man with nothing to live for, just going through the motions without purpose. so, he searches for something to give him meaning, but even when he finds it in the island, he feels like he has to keep pushing and keep forcing on to preserve that sense of purpose, because he has to be moving towards something, or else it was all for nothing.]

[james "sawyer" ford - ancient history]

[okay i really love this one. ancient history's so james core its about a traumatic past that you can't help but let color your existence. like james, the singer feels defined by what's happened to them because of how much it still hurts them. he tries to move on, but he's trapped in cycles.]

[sayid jarrah - the wolf]

[well someone sure thinks they're a monster. the singer of the wolf sees themself as something dangerous and violent, something that will inevitably hurt the people they care about. both the singer & sayid feel like they're trapped in cycles that just hurt themself and others.]

[hugo "hurley" reyes - volta]

[very much a song about mental health. specifically it's about improving, finally deciding to do something about what you've been through. fundamentally volta's a song about hope & making a change for yourself in a way that's super reminiscent of hurley.]

[sun-hwa & jin-soo kwon - curses]

[okay yes i know all the rest of the characters got their own separate songs and all but 1. sun & jin's arcs are so heavily defined by each other in a way unique to them, and 2. curses is so incredibly them i dont want to pass it up. the two struggle to find the words for each other, to be open about what weighs on them and their secrets, to the point it nearly destroys their relationship. but, in the end, the two still stay together, they still try to improve their relationship.]

[charlie pace - the garden]

[the garden is in large part a song about catholic guilt. need i say more? it doesn't matter because i will. charlie feels incredibly guilty over his past and his actions, but struggles to respond to that guilt, instead stewing in self-hate and fear.]

[claire littleton - here i am]

[claire forever feels abandoned. in her flashbacks and by people on the island, she is always left behind by the people she cares about, until she feels like her loneliness is forcd to define her in season 6.]

[desmond hume - little soldiers]

[little soldiers is extremely despen coded. desmond insists that he cares about penny, but fears that after everything, he's hurt her too bad. and yet, him and penny still try, they still put in the work to improve and stay together.]

[aight thats all i can fit for now ill add a part two in a bit]

[ray-does-witchcraft]

UPG Music From My Deities:

Aphrodite

Really likes Florence And The Machine (especially "What The Water Gave Me")

Mitski!! She loves the new album

Mainly female singers tbh

The song "Aphrodite" by Honey Gentry >>>

Apollo

So much Hozier (especially "Sunlight" and "Almost Sweet Music" for obvious reasons)

The Crane Wives and Lovejoy

"Soldier, Poet, King" cover by Jacob Cook

Ares

Old rock! Especially AC/DC and System Of A Down

Punk music! Dead Kennedys, Sex Pistols, Misfits, ya know the drill

Anything a bit angry and loud

Hermes

REALLY like Twenty One Pilots for some reason ("Message Man" makes him giddy)

Panic! At The Disco ("King Of The Clouds" >>)

Arctic Monkeys and Chase Atlantic

Mainstream indie stuff

Dionysus

Loves Amy Winehouse ("Back To Black" and "Rehab" are big faves)

"The Cult Of Dionysus" by The Orion Experience for obvious reasons

Mother Mother!

[fishymom-art]

BOOM!!!!! SUDDEN OC REF SHEET DROP!!!!!!!!!

Say hi to my beloveds!! Some of them were created around uuuhhh 2012/13 maybe, but they went through drastic redesigns throughout the years (specifically Rose, Polen, Amelie, and Raff + Milo, who didn't change a bit), and some of them are brand new (Eru was my D&D character and Tim was created out of nowhere inspired by my husk redesign lol)

Details under the cut!

They exist in The End Realm - the prison of all the other realms, where all criminals and whatnot go. There were so many people, that The End Realm developed it's own communities, politics, etc. It homes many many different people from every part of the multiverse - Human Realm, Ether Realm, Occult Realm, etc. The leader of The End Realm is Raff (or Armel Howl, as he used to be called), an emotionless demon who controls his subjects with their every step. His servants - Shadows - watch everyone and everything around his isolated castle and the rest of the Realm. He tricks people into making a deal with him and they own him their lives. They get a golden jewel with a red ruby in it that is unbreakable and a swirly tattoo is carved into their skin to showcase, that they belong to him. If a person tries to break the pact, they become one of the Shadows. Tim Baccarat - The only human out of the whole bunch - He/They - Demisexual - 28 y.o - Used to own a casino, now works as Raff's butler, coz he owns him. - Was exiled from the Human Realm for Soul Gambling. - (Inspired by Tim Wright from Marble Hornets, Husk from Hazbin Hotel, and Jeeves from Jeeves and Wooster) ((what a combination)) - Voice Claim: Husk from Hazbin Hotel (Keith David)

Rose Seed - Dark Fae, pretending to be a Love Fae - He/She - Gay - 26 yo - Native to The End Realm. A singer and a performer in general, Raff's assistant. Was found by Raff with a missing wing and made a deal. - (Currently inspired by 10th Doctor from Doctor Who, Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel, Francœur from Monster in Paris) - Voice Claim (for noooow): Angel Dust from Hazbin Hotel (Blake Roman)

Eru - Aasimar (at least originally) - They/them - Aroace - 38 yo - Used to be a part of a high religious power/church in the Ether Realm, but was exiled due to going against some of their beliefs. Leads a rebellion against Raff. Had a son. - (Inspired by Odysseus and Athena (specifically from EPIC: The Musical), and Queen Angella from She-Ra) - Voice Claim: Odysseus from EPIC: The Musical (Jorge Rivera-Herrans)

Polen - Forest Fae - She/Her - Pansexual, Polyamorous - 35 yo - Native to The End Realm. Eru's right hand in the rebellion. Used to be best friends with Rose, but they stopped talking after he made a deal with Raff. - (Currently inspired by Daisy from The Magnus Archives, Hecate (specifically from Lore Olympus)), ZombieCleo (any Life Series, mostly Last Life though) - Voice Claim (might change): Lizzo, lol

Amelie Fairchild - Succubus - She/They - Lesbian - 32 yo - Raff’s maid. She used to be a high overlord but Raff took over and she signed an unbreakable contract so he doesn’t kill her. Is very in love with Polen. Wants to be a part of the rebellion. Was exiled from the Occult Realm for being weak. - (Currently inspired by The Beast from Beauty and the Beast (I am a horrible person lol), c!Captain Puffy (Dream SMP), and Pearl (Double Life)) - Voice Claim: The Crane Wives (specifically "Curses")

Raff (Previously: Armel Howl) - Demon, used to be a human - He/It - Bisexual - 29 yo (looks like that at least) - Highest overlord of The Realm. Leads an army of shadows, that look over each and every person in his realm. He has eyes everywhere. Was exiled from The Human Realm many many years ago for practicing Dark Magic (creating Shadows). - Voice Claim: MISSIO (Matthew Brue)

Milo Howl - Unknown - He/Him - Unknown - 9 yo - Raff’s son. Powerful being. - Voice Claim: Sushi Saucy

[mysterypigeon]

once and for all, what does that mean?

There’s a lot of Crane Wives songs that are obviously connected to others. Scars and Never Love an Anchor are the real fallout of something that happened to Emilee and what she wishes that person had felt, Icarus and How To Rest repeat “It’s okay, it’s okay” at the beginning and end of their album. Glacier House feeds directly into Tongues and Teeth, but Back To The Ground features a very similar howl and both songs work as pairs to Tongues and Teeth. Notably, most of these songs are off The Fool In Her Wedding Gown.

CONSIDER: Steady, Steady and Once and For All.

(Disclaimer: I do think Once and For All is about someone who can’t bring themselves to leave their partner. Silly analysis below. I’m also going to refer to the characters as S and O. I can’t keep saying “the singer”.)

Steady, Steady is a song about feeling trapped by marriage and asking your partner to leave everything behind to live a wilder life with you. The singer eventually offers to get married if her partner promises not to be trapped by tradition, and by the final chorus she gives up on them.

Once and For All features a number of lyrics about a drawn-out conflict, being left in the dust, and trying to let your partner go.

“I tried it your way, you tried it mine” is a simple example of conflict. The first verse establishes this fight and the singer’s eventual resistance.

The second verse is really fun to apply to Steady, Steady’s story. O sings that they tried to fight for the relationship for S, but when O’s love grew restrictive to their partner and O decided they did actually want to get married, S pulled away and broke O’s heart. The second half of this verse, “Remember, you're the one that gave up when my blood runs dry You could still carry me away but you'd leave me here to die”, echoes the language in Steady, Steady, where the singer promises to run and chase her dreams down. She begs her partner to keep up but does ultimately give up on them when they won’t follow.

“You could still carry me away” seems a little contradictory in this framing, but O could be asking S to bring them away from the “battlefield” they’re suffering on- instead, S picks her dreams over them.

Verse three! This is fairly simple, too- O is feeling torn apart by the loss of their love and her sudden departure. Applying the story of Steady, Steady, O seems conflicted over whether or not to leave, and used to plan it with S. The suffocating tradition that S is freeing herself from is the same that O is left to drown in.

THE BRIDGE!!! This is the entire reason I made this post. Stick with me.

“Once and for all, what does that mean? It’s a promise I’m making that I don’t actually believe.”

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC AFTER “believe”!!! It sounds hauntingly like the faster parts of Steady, Steady. (To me, at least. I just listened to it another fifteen times and I may be making things up.) Back to the lyrics.

At this point, O is trying to get over S, and close the door on their love. They’ve tried so many times. But a part of them is still wishing they were running free with S, like they planned. And another part is wishing she had stayed and married them.

do uh. do you see the vision

[nat-seal-well]

I love when I see my favorite bands live for the first time cause I don’t know what any of them look like. I listen to their music and that’s it. I don’t know anything about them aside from that. When we went to go see crane wives last week one of the singers came onstage to join the opener and I was like “oh that’s cool. who is she?”

[melodyofthevoid]

The Crane Wives Examined: Fool In Her Wedding Gown:

Second in my Crane Wives series, first one here

The second album released, this collection centers more on love, both for ill and for good. Contrasting both the extreme highs and reliefs of love with tracks like “How to Rest” and “Icarus”, and more toxic and bitter emotions like “Tongues and Teeth” and “Back to the Ground”. If Safe Ship, Harbored was more of a mixed sea, this is intensity on every front: a hurricane. The whirlwind of love for all the beauty and pain.

Buckle in because this one is long. 

Icarus

A euphoric ending to a relationship that dragged the singer down, and now their former lover is flying away. And yet there is no resentment, as they wish for them to breathe cleaner air. There is almost joy in the singer’s voice in asking who he has become in the wake of their relationship. Now that they are free, who are they?

The orchard is the life they made together, once perhaps flourishing, but now a reminder of the one sided sacrifice it became. It wasn’t healthy, it bore no fruit, so it all burns to the ground, making way for a new life. Fire can be a destructive force, but it can also make way for new fertile earth.

There is not room for someone who doesn’t want to stay, who won’t put in the same effort. Anyone deserves to have their love returned, so the lover can fly away, he wasn’t worth keeping around. They’ve both torn what they had apart, and it’s not worth salvaging. Why lie when they can leave it be and let it rest?

The singer is flying away too, also free to soar and find new heights on their own. They’re spreading the ashes of what once was in the sun, until they fall back in love again, like Icarus.

Steady, Steady

There are expectations placed upon a couple to settle down. That one day all of the wild impulses of youth will fade into nothing more than dreams gone by. This singer sees this, hears the calls to ready herself for a quiet life of marriage. But she knows that isn’t her.

The shift in tone between the choruses and verses is the shift from quiet hesitation to wild abandon. A banjo line like a galloping horse, running for its life out on an open plane. The singer is in love, this much she knows, but the concept of traditional life and marriage is a plague, “all of our for good makes me ache to be alone”. What good is this love if forever means changing? The expectation of marriage is ill-fitting, and they’re feeling ever more constrained by it all. They challenge their love with a question.

“Are you so sure you’ve tamed me?”

Then the quiet returns, telling the singer to stay steady. That they’ll know when they’re ready. Life’s troubles and tribulations, the heat of the sun in this case, can make someone go crazy, lose all direction. But the singer says they’re ready to run, and the beat kicks in again.

The couple had talked about escaping the dead end town they’re in and moving out west, a dream that is fading by the day. The singer refuses to give up on it though, they won’t be stuck here, they won’t give up. They plead with their lover to keep up with them and run, they can’t stand the idea of staying and rotting away. At the end there’s an implicit threat, that if their lover can’t keep up, that they’ll escape on their own. It’s not their fault.

But in the end, they weren’t ready together, and the song ends on a melancholic note, fading off defeated. The wild abandon too much, and the future now is uncertain.

Easier

Getting over a betrayal isn’t a simple task, especially one where there is no closure. The singer’s lover left while they were sleeping without a word, and they’re left to pick the pieces up by themselves with no one to turn to. They wonder if they’d done the same if it would’ve hurt their partner, consumed their every thought like it does to them. The need to exact equal harm is so tempting, but useless in the end. Because it doesn’t change the fact that they were abandoned.

A change of scenery might fix things, free them from the memories hung on the walls and seeped into the soul of the house.

This house, this peace was the first and only one the singer’s ever known though, there’s so much anchoring them to this place even though it’s hurting them. What does one do in this situation?

And would being someone else make this process easier? After all, some are unaffected by these things. Some people can pick themselves up and live again. The singer just wishes it would be easier to move on. It’s never that simple though.

Logically it’d be better for them to pack up and move on. Leave this relationship in the past. But human nature is fickle, and so they stay, trying to convince themselves that it’ll get easier in time if they just ignore it and let it go.

Shallow River

A classic mourning of the love lost to another, the singer mourns a life she cannot share with a woman soon to be wed, knowing that they’ll never have a life together. The song starts with the metaphor of the red sky at morning, a warning sign of an oncoming storm. A flood is coming, a storm that threatens to swallow the singer. Her love is promised to another, a ring on her finger. She tells herself to settle down and forget the other. For her heart to be still.

Because on some level she’s furious, that her love is seemingly throwing what they had away for the stability of another, who can give her the title. Who can give what the singer cannot.

The singer then turns to her love and tells her to leave whatever they had in the past behind, let the embers flicker out and die. It’s for the best for them both. The title is dropped here, the subject the eponymous “fool in her wedding gown”. It’s heavily implied that she’s not in love with the one she’s marrying, and that this wasn’t what she really wanted. But now there’s no choice to make.

Any punishment that may come the singer welcomes, so long as her love leaves her sight and her mind. Separated forever more for both their sakes. And finally she calls her love beautiful one more time, saying that she’s “no one’s baby”, perhaps a mixed metaphor for how this marriage is loveless, and the one love she had she can no longer pursue. Forever trapped in this situation. The singer bids her farewell, telling her to keep the chains of her marriage off the ground, and to never think of her.

There does lie the question of why they split, but given the seemingly forbidden love angle, there does appear to be at least one answer. The singer is a woman, singing to a woman, A Fool In Her Wedding Gown released prior to the Supreme Court ruling that made gay marriage legal across all 50 states, so it’s possible that this was the only option that the subject had in terms of a future. Tragic, but all too real.

Strangler Fig

In nature, it isn’t uncommon for there to be relationships between beings that are unequal. Parasitic. The strangler fig is one such invader, growing over a tree and true to its name strangling out the host, sapping nutrients from it. So too is this relationship unequal and toxic, and the singer wants out.

Their partner trapped them in, building up a “kingdom” around them. Treating them carelessly and taking their options from them one by one until they couldn’t stand it anymore. They acknowledge that he can be charming but at this point his games are driving them even further away.

In the chorus the singer asks their lover to “climb me to the canopy”, like the strangler fig does. It wraps around the trunk in a spiderweb and kills the host. However the partner is using the singer, his desires will be the undoing of both of them. Perhaps not at the same time, but it will be.

After all, once the tree dies, there’s only a hollow shell of the strangler fig left behind with nothing to support it, much like this toxic partner will be left in a mess of his own making once the singer leaves and has enough. He preaches and controls the singer into a miserable life, and it makes them wonder how he’ll ever get anyone else.

The rest is a demand for autonomy and for their life back. For the effort and life they gave to be returned. They will not feed this parasite any longer and they’re making themselves clear. No more.

The Glacier House

Over time once a pair separates, changes occur. It’s inevitable, time shifts all things. People drift apart and find each other again after years and it’s hard to reconcile those differences. This pair were lovers once, and now after so long, the other is colder, more bitter. Eyes that once held sweetness are now vacant of life. Like a glacier their heart is unyielding and they’ve settled beneath its weight. The singer beseeches their ex to understand that they carry no ill will towards them, not really. But they had to leave that situation, it wasn’t healthy for them.

They tell their ex to bundle up, to try and make themselves warm even though they’re alone now. The seasons will change, things will get better, and maybe they can meet again as friends years down the line. They’re both not in a place to be near one another for better or worse.

Even though they’re resigned to bundle themselves in for now, shut away the world, shut out love, things will change eventually. They will have to heal themselves, as difficult of a journey as that may be. They made the bed that they lay in, and it’s up to them to change it, if they want that.

Tongues & Teeth

An anthem to the unapologetic, the dangerous, the wolf not bothering to wear sheep’s clothing. An unstoppable train of a song, the banjos and drums lively and bouncing. There is a cloying sweetness to the instrumentals in the quieter moments, but it’s all a ruse.

The singer is all sharp edges finely honed over the years. A mouth barbed and stinging, and that’s all they can offer. An attempt at sweet gestures, a kiss, a moment of tender affection will only end in pain for the other. They sing this with an audible grin, as if taunting the other to lean in closer if they dare.

There’s a patronizing air as if they’re patting their lover on the head, understanding that they mean well, but nothing they can do will change who they are. “I am not a vessel for your good intent”. They’re honest, if anything, they only want to break and use, be themselves no matter the consequences for anyone else. It’s a pattern, one they’re more than aware of. But if the other is fine like that? Well who are they to stop them?

But they do warn again that any preconceived notions of traditional love or idealization of them will fall through. They belittle the notion of the dreams of who she might be, knowing that her lover’s expectations will never be satisfied. Mere fantasies. Then there is a warning, saying this will fall through, a crack in the facade of uncaring glee. They’re desperate to keep their genuine feelings hidden away in a small box. Perhaps in small moments before things fall apart the other may see a glimpse of what lies beneath. But she’d prefer the blindness, it’s easier.

There’s another howling warning, as if she’s shouting to the winds that she’ll ruin her lover before she shifts to a softer tone, acknowledging that she’s ruined others before and will in the future. It’s in her nature.

Then the growl returns, warning that she’ll poison any happy thought, any good thing her lover’s ever had. Using them up and throwing them away when she’s done, but so long as they know… she’s fine with that.

It ends as wild as it starts with more howling, she’s riding off into the sunset, untamed and unchanged.

Back to the Ground

There’s not much to do once a relationship has run its course. There’s an exhaustion, a resignation like laying down to die. The singer knows that this is it, that there’s nowhere else for this transaction to go.

They’ve been shelved emotionally, collecting dust as the pair drifts apart. Yet at the same time, they carry all of the memories of what once was. The knowledge of their partner. They may be tired and worn, but as they say “there’s nothing about you I don’t know”. And with that knowledge, they confess that they know that this is coming to an end. Asking, pleading, for the breakoff to be gentle. To be given back to the ground, to be given peace.

They put all they could into the relationship, trying to make the relationship flourish. But the seeds didn’t have the right soil, or were simply doomed from the start. The relationship dies, the buds dying, the warmth and love dying, but there’s an element of grief there as well. The singer doesn’t want to let go, but has to.

There’s a callback to “The Glacier House”, as the singer says that their hearts lay under frozen soil and ice, both stewing in their misery. But the singer will escape, and only wants to be let go with grace back to the ground.

Show Your Fangs

A battle cry, a declaration in the style of an old western. Wavering like the desert heat rippling off of the sands. It is the song of a lone woman, wandering the world to find herself again. Rejecting the weight and sins of her past on a path all her own. Trying to find a new way.

She finds comfort in the night, among the stars, the light of day bringing with it a sun that threatens to burn her, and an anger that boils within. A wedding on the horizon.

And she won’t have it. She refuses to be the meek, demure bride shuffling obediently towards her fate. She is a lioness, capable and willing to defend herself at all costs. As she's run away from the wedding that was to come, defying the expectation of others. Making a makeshift tent out on her own, knowing her husband-to-be never truly understood a single thing about her. 

Once this might’ve been the end for her, making it out on her own in the endless heat, but she’s calloused and won’t give up so easily. In the face of a threat, beasts snarl and show their fangs as a warning. She is the product of all of those who came before her. Forced to live in loveless marriages and try to pass their knowledge onto the next generation in hopes that their mistakes wouldn’t be repeated. And the singer has forged weapons from that knowledge and is ready to use them. 

Showing her true self to the world. 

Once & For All

Similar to “Back to the Ground” this is a story of a relationship falling apart, but this is not a slow decay. Not a war of attrition. This is a prolonged battle, one fought on every angle and from every side. No one’s won, it’s a continuous net loss.

The singer wants to put an end to it once and for all, her anguish echoing through the other singers, showing the mutual frustration between both parties.

There’s a desperate back and forth in their relationship, one that the singer fought for, and yet they found themselves on the receiving end of the breakup. Caught off guard by the cut off. They resent that their partner walked away first, in spite of them wanting to before. What else could it be but a betrayal?

They hope that their partner will regret it, that their blood will forever stain their hands. That one day they’ll regret walking away and find no enjoyment or joy in the break-up.

At the end there’s only resignation, this song and dance too exhausting to keep up. They’ve promised themselves before that they’d walk away once and for all and yet they didn’t. The desire to leave strong but not strong enough to drive the final nail in that coffin. So they simply repeat once and for all to themselves, and wait for the inevitable. If their partner returns, the cycle will continue once more.

Canary in a Coal Mine

Is there an image as evocative as the canary in the coal mine? The small beacon of light and song in the dreary dark, singing until the fumes threaten to choke it out. A warning to the miners who rely on it to leave before the carbon monoxide kills them too.

Here, the singer is the canary, trying to be the light in the dark as both of them try to heal from old wounds. Twin open graves that threaten to bury them alive in the dark. The black air and lungs indicative of those who toiled in the coal mines and lost their years to the toxins in the ground. The singer wonders if they’re the only one keeping their partner alive when their hope is gone.

But is that all that they are? Are they like the canary, only valuable as a warning sign that things have gotten too deadly to continue? They hope that this isn’t so. In reality, miners cared deeply for the birds that brought a piece of the outside world down into the depths but the imagery is one in popular culture that stands for a sacrifice. A lesser being meant to keep another safe.

So they keep trying to keep the other afloat, willing to take whatever empty promises they’re given if it means that their songs have meaning. That is enough. But what happens when the singer has nothing left to give? When the darkness claims them? Will their lover stay? Will their love’s recovery from the trauma that clings to them both like blackened dust in their lungs mean that they’ll turn around and help them too? Or will they be abandoned. A canary who can no longer sing.

They’ll keep burying themselves in the woes and worries of their partner, and hope that even if it kills them, it’ll be alright.

How to Rest

A song of healing, of recovering after a deep and unending hurt. It’s so easy to seclude oneself away from the world. Build a fortress around the heart and let no one inside out of the sheer terror that vulnerability will lead to pain once again. Trapped in the land of regrets and fear. It’s easy to convince oneself that this is safety and shelter, but it is a prison devoid of what makes life rich and full. This “sanctuary” has no light, no ambition to grow, no person to share in the highs and lows with. In spite of all the fear, you’ll leave that castle because what you yearn for, it’s stronger.

You wanted an escape from that prison, no matter what you told yourself.

And you’re not alone, so many people vow to try to never love again after their heart is broken. That they won’t need someone else to share their lives. But they’re making a liar of themselves in a vain attempt at comfort. The desire, the all too human desire, for companionship isn’t something that one can put away and forget about. Love doesn’t know how to rest. It seeks to make connections.

There isn’t any place where one can go to shelter away from the world at large, or from one’s own emotions. They’ll act sometimes without regard for what is wanted. It’s a childish notion to assume you can hide from them forever. Acceptance is the way forward.

And then there is the thesis: the heart is a muscle with a rhythm all its own. It won’t just stop, emotions don’t just stop, whether you want it or not. Life keeps going on, the heart wants to feel again and will do what it can to make that happen. It needs to survive too. Love is the only thing worth being alive for, and vowing to cut oneself off from that is just an act of harm in the long run.

A note, I personally am aroace, and the sentiment “Love is the only thing worth being alive for” carries a different meaning for me than it might for someone else. The way I interpret it in this song is that “love” is not purely romantic, it is the culmination of care and joy one can get from friends, from family, from passions, and so on. This isn’t strictly limited to one expression of how a person can care for another. Personally I’m more agnostic on the term “love” but it’s an individual thing.

At the end of the day this song is about opening yourself up to healing and moving on from times when we’ve been hurt and wounded. Retreating to lick one’s wounds is alright for a time, but you can’t stay there forever. Go out, and find a new hope in the world. 

[sirenspells]

WIPs and abandoned projects (March 2021-December 2023)

Info on each one (as well as what the songs/audio sources are):

The song playing in the intro and outro is Dianthus Nardiformis from the Dreaming Mary OST.

19: March 2021. Okay so this one's not actually a work in progress. I made this on my 19th birthday, the joke being that the singer just says 19 then it ends. I think I thought it was kinda dumb so I didn't end up actually posting it. Also features a sona I had before Cress that I never really got attached to, so she was barely used. Song is 19 by Old 97's.

Lonely Holiday: July 2021. This has the honor of being the first OMORI mv I ever attempted. I started this on a whim while bored out of my mind dogsitting for a couple weeks, and I kinda just lost interest in it. Dunno if I'll go back to it. Song is Lonely Holiday by Old 97's.

Numb: July 2021. Another one I started while dogsitting, and another one I kinda just lost interest in, but I absolutely want to revisit it someday because it's an idea I've had for a while and still really want to do. Song is Numb (Linkin Park Cover) by Robyn Adele Anderson.

The Artist: December 2021. I stopped working on this one because doing everything manually frame-by-frame got really annoying and I started to hate working on it. I dunno why I did the zoom in manually but it looks bad, lol. The entire MV would have been just this verse of the song because I thought it really fit Basil and Omori. Tbh I still like how this looks and I may come back to it. Song is The Artist by The Hush Sound.

Higher: February 2022. It's the animation meme. I actually posted this wip a while ago but I'm still gonna include it here for completion's sake. This was really just storyboard practice, so I don't have much of an interest in completing it beyond this. It's Omori Strikers AU (my omori x persona 5 crossover au) and it's basically about Omori's identity issues due to being Sunny's Shadow. The quality's really bad on this one, for some reason iMovie refused to export it in a higher quality than this, I don't know why. Song is High by SIVIK.

Little Sunbeam: February 2022. This MV would have centered on the omari au, and beyond this it'd switch to Mari's pov and take on different palettes. Doing that text effect made working on this very annoying and would make my art program lag a lot so I lost interest in working on it. I might revisit this one, though I'd have to rework the original idea I had now that my perception on the common omari au has changed lol. Song is Little Sunbeam by Eleisha Eagle.

Nightmarish: April 2022. This MV would technically be a remake of one I made in 2020. Same song, same color palette, but with a completely new media. Part of wanting to work on this is wanting to spread Dreaming Mary propaganda cause I love it and I think people who like OMORI will like Dreaming Mary as well. Also I love this song. I definitely wanna go back to this one at some point. Song is Nightmarish from the Dreaming Mary OST.

Keep You Safe: July 2022. Like Higher I also posted this wip before but will still include it here. I absolutely want to go back to this one someday because I still really like the idea I have for it. Fun fact, for those who remember this piece, that was based on this MV, but it's not like you can tell based on what's shown here. Song is Keep You Safe by The Crane Wives.

Four Walls: August 2022. Amnesiac Omori MV, what would have been his youtube introduction if I hadn't stopped working on it and then made When Am I Gonna Lose You. I think I kinda just lost interest in this one, though I wanna go back to it at some point I think. Song is Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith) by Bastille.

Someone Gets Hurt: January 2023. Amnesiac omori again babey!! Animatic that would have taken place after he regains his memories, where he's basically really angry and lashes out at Sunny and Stranger. Might revisit this one. Song is Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise) from the Mean Girls musical.

Uhh some shitpost: February 2023. Silly thing, it's a shame I stopped working on it before it actually got to the main funny part. I dunno if I'll go back to this one. Audio from @/tylergaca on twitter.

Jealous: March 2023. Animation meme. It would've been about Sunny and Mari in my pmd au and the leadup to the incident. It took me a while to get that second shot right and I still really don't like it. Do wanna revisit this one cause I love angst surrounding these two so much I love them in pmd au GRAHHH. Song is Jealous by Eyedress (slowed down).

Stranger lipsync test: May 2023. This was way too difficult as a lipsync test so I gave up on it, though I still like the animation for it. Also this is a pretty good contender for headcanon voice for Stranger I'll be real. Audio is from Persona 5 Royal.

Propaganda: August 2023. Amnesiac omori au storyboard that I do actually wanna make into a completed thing. This is very spoilery so my master plan is to not explain what's happening. Muah hah hah >:3c. Also once again iMovie exported this in a really bad quality for some reason. Song is Propaganda by Kill J.

Alter's Rant: December 2023. One more amnesiac omori animatic for the road. Once again it's really spoilery but it's basically Alter and Omori's final confrontation. I have more done than what's shown here but I wanna keep it a surprise for when I finish it, which should hopefully be soon >:3c. Also this one also got hit by iMovie's low quality curse. Song is Eva's Rant from Bring It On The Musical.

[auburnitzy]

Behold !! My...very not impressive creation-

I lost their edited version so I had to start from scratch ! DX I left out some details so you could do whatever you want with them. I just came with the ref: Juliet 'JuJu'/Qi Guiying/齐桂英 Age: Something younger than Haoran and Mingxia- Height: 4,9 to 5,3 feet Pangender She/He/They (Normally just goes by she-) Personality: Baby of the family :) But they are very capable of flipping the switch between being a closeted introvert…and dramatic extrovert. One minute they are playing pranks with Mingxia and the next, they are just rolling their eyes when following Haoran’s rules. Their emotions are a hit or miss depending on the mood and as long as she is having fun, it won’t be ending in a mess. They just want a fun time. She loves the drama…unless its the kind that gets in HER biz >:( Also independent and doesn't take crap from anybody lest they get beaten up.

Fun Facts:

- Loves ALL kinds of strawberry-flavoured foods ! They’ll go rabid trying to get one ! Strawberries by themselves are…meh to them.

- Their powers are similar to both Nawa and MK’s. Being a perfect mix of them, inheriting half of each of their powers makes a little sense.

-Has a big thing for music. They enjoy Jazz, Rock and a bit of traditional music. And a bit of a singer and dancer- -Mix of Monkey and Bakunawa ! Hence the ears and fins-

-In school, their appearance on the outside does tend to get the wrong kind of attention. Kids will be kids and make fun of others for strange features so…they get bullied. But their siblings always come to help in the end !

-Don’t bite….They’ll bite back.

Voice: Ivy Pepper from Lackadaisy (If you don't know it, go check it out because it is sick !)

Theme Song: The Moon Will Sing - The Crane Wives. (And that wraps it ! My Auburnitzy OC ! I left a lot of details somewhat out so that you could add anything you want ! Because my babu, is your babu UvU I hope you enjoy this if you can Nitzy !)

AAAAAAAA DID YOU READ MY OLD FANFICTION OR SOMETHING???

SHE'S SO ADORABLE!! >o< 🌸💟💗✨️✨️✨️

Thank you for sending her to me AAAAAA- her and mingxia would get along (only sometimes tho!!)

[all-l-wanna-do]

headcanon prompt! what type of music would they like idk

ANON ILYSM

Lina is a big classical fan, she started listening to it for studying but found she adore it so she hasnt stopped. she also loves the beatles and a lot of other 70-80s music. she has almskt every beatles cd and a player as well as pretty shelves to put all her music on. she prefers physical music all the way.

Anne does not have a music taste as in she will listen to and enjoy anything and everything. she hears a song on the radio (which is always on when shes driving btw) and will listen to it on loop for three days minimum. She has all of two playlists, one of every sad song shes ever liked and one of every happy song. If she had to pick one genre she'd probably say rap or rock becuase she likes the way it sounds. prodution is much more important to her than lyrics and she is almost never without a song on, her airpods are in 24/7

Jane also really likes older music but she leans more towards the 50s to 80s. Her room is right next to Linas so she often hears the beatles through the wall which is what intitonly got her into their music. she also likes country music and unlike anne she has very neat and organised playlists, even making folders for them. She almost never uses earbuds in private and is currently on the quest to find the perfecy headphones.

Anna loves rock and metal music. Shes the lead singer and guitarist in a rock band called Queens Castle which she made with some friends senior year of highschool and they started playing at clubs and got fairly successful. She constantly gets notifications warning her that her audio is too loud, and you can usually hear her music if you get within three feet of her. she rarely ever accepts requests to turn it down.

Kitty is a pop girlie through and through. she loves taylor swift especially speak now and lover, sabrina carpenter, maisie peters, charli xcx, dua lipa, chappell roan, etc. She also adores musicals and will spend all her money any time one comes near them. She always has mini concerts in the shower and out of it, her hairbrush gets quite a lot of use as a mic. she loves coming up with cheoro for her favourite songs and takes vocal lessons every thursday and dance lessons friday and monday. shes planning to major in music and minor in theatre when she goes to college.

Cathy is incapable of focusing without music on. she likes more acoustic music as well as some taylor, specifically folklore and evermore. she also loves the crane wives and almost every one of theirs she has associated with a story shes writing. Shes always the first to join kitty for duets and she took vocal lessons up until seventh grade when the pressure got too much and she quit. she has a couple organised playlists but a lot of the time she dumps songs whereever it kinda fits. she doesnt listen to new music much, and anne constantly teases her for only knowing like three artists.

[romeoeatzkorn]

Introduction

Hey! I haven’t done a proper introduction soo here we are

Basic info

Name: Roxx

Age: 14

Gender: Genderfluid Nonbinary

Pronouns: They/it (my persona uses He/Him)

Sexuality: Butch Lesbian

Nationality (and ethnicity): Canadian, Scandinavian + Plains Cree

Realationship: QP w/@rainbowfriendsfanatic

Funfacts about me!!! I kin Roxie Richter

I kin Queen Barb

I make a lot of sex jokes (puberty is a bitch)

Please use tone tags when talking to me

I’m a Aquarius I use the term faggot and dyke a lot (I am queer)

I am Butch

Rare-pairs are my passion

I would like to go on T (Testosterone) one day

Sometimes I feel like a fem queen ❤️❤️

If ur my moot I’m gunna call u pookie

My other socials

Basic DNI:

Pro/comshippers

Facists and Homophobes

Kink blogs (y’all cool I guess but still I’m under the age of consent)

Full on porn blogs fuck off

Wallycest/Applecest

Individual DNI

18+ accs (nsfw or kink shit)

Wallaby/Barnly antis please block me so you don’t have to see my content

“Male” lesbians FUCK RIGHT OFF NOW

Transphobes feel like this one’s self explanatory

Gold star lesbians

Christans (love y’all just pls)

Asexual and Aromantic deniers

Racists.

Cishets love you guys just this blog is for the gays

Julie x Wally shippers (simply dislike the ship nothing against y’all)

Fujoshis y’all gross me out

Do interact

Lesbians pls

LGBTQ2SA+

Neurodivergent people

People underneath the Trans umbrella

Wallaby/Barnly fans

Cringe people

Other minors

Fellow Sapphics and NMLNM

Barnaby enjoyers

Poppy kissers

Jewish people y’all are safe here ♥️

Neo pronoun users

Trans trenders (people who identify with a gender under the trans umbrella but don’t feel gender dysphoria)

Neo gender users

Therians and furrys ♥️ I love you guys y’all are cool asf

Beginner artists

Two spirit lesbians

Trans woman Howdy truthers (I’ll die on this fucking hill I swear)

butch lesbian enjoyers

butch4femme enthusiasts

Huntlow enthusiasts

Roxie richter fans!!

Platonic Julie and Wally fans

Fandoms Im in

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

scott pilgrim (SPTO specifically)

Welcome home

The owl house (I’m only here for huntlow and Eda)

One piece

Strange Hill High

Tf2

DHMIS

Spiderverse

Warrior cats

RTC (Ride the cylcone)

Trolls (I am cringe but I’m free)

Music and Artists I enjoy

Rio Romeo

Cosmo sheldrake

Felix Colgrave

Sparkbird

ICP

Sodikken

sorry mom

Mitski

MSI (I don’t support the lead singer)

The crane wives

Sufjan Stevens

Megan Nash

The oozes

Hoizer

Will Wood

@winslow-arts

Myself

All of my moots

Dana Terrace

Ships I rly rly like

Wallaby (obvi)

Roxie x Kim (SPTO)

Ragatha x Pomni

Howdy x Poppy aka Powdy (trans fem howdy bb)

Frank x Eddie

Josuyasu (I love these dumbasses)

Julie x Sally

Huntlow (they have consumed my mind)

Barnaby x Wally x Frank x Eddie

Barb x Poppy (theyre so yuriful)

Tybalt x Romeo (doomed yaoi my fave)

Viva x Clay (I don’t ship broppy)

Branch x king trollex

More to come

Boundaries

I am comfortable with:

KYS jokes if we’re moots

Calling the characters I draw stinky as a joke

Suggestive and gore content of my AUs/Characters (u can tag me if u want idgaf)

NSFW content being created of the Trad Goth Wally AU same thing with the thriller AU (do not tag me)

Fics of my characters and AUs that have sexual elements (do tag me in fics but add a warning if it is suggestive or has sexual elements)

I am not comfortable with:

Being referred to w/ primarily She/Her pronouns

Calling the characters I draw sexy or sexualizing them

People DMing me (unless they are my moot or it’s for comms)

NSFW asks

Flirting w/me (unless I know you irl or we’re moots or you’re butch 😍😍)

Bye! Please be kind!

[ebitchwriting]

Music Taste The RE Characters Give Me Vibes Of Part Two:

Annette Birkin: Unironically loves orchestra and classical music over the music of the 60's and 70's she grew up with. It helps her focus on her work, it lets her mind disconnect when she's far too stressed, and it doesn't give her a raging headache. She doesn't like that neither her husband or daughter appreciate it's beauty, but indulges them and their music taste(more specifically Sherry and her boy bands and pop stars).

Barry Burton: I feel like he genuinely loves old country music, especially Johnny Cash. If not that, then the old singers like Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, and Fred Astaire. Would absolutely belt out and sing along to his favorite songs, though two songs of Cash are both hard and impossible not to listen to when he's going through a horrible time: Hurt, especially after he snapped and blamed Moira for finding his guns and accidentally shooting her sister; and When The Man Comes Around after Raccoon City because it just hits way too close to home.

Moira Burton: Evanesence, Sick Puppies, My Chemical Romance, and Guano Apes were the main bands she listened to, but she would listen to any punk rock or goth rock. Especially if it got a reaction out of her dad. It also helped her have a safe place to feel her anger, grief, and trauma of nearly killing her sister because the guns weren't put away. After the events of Revelations 2, she listened to these bands less out of spite or of pain but because she genuinely loved this style of music.

Rebecca Chambers: I feel like her music is all over the place. She'll listen to The Suede(aka London Suede), Red Hoy Chili Peppers, Porcupine Tree, The Amazing Devil, The Crane Wives. She just finds whatever she likes and adds it to her playlist. She doesn't really sing or dance along with the songs, but she'll tap her fingers and bop her head along if she's really into it. One band she listens to in private and only in private is Nine Inch Nails because it reminds her of Billy Coen. She has no idea if he survived the Racoon City Bombing or if he perished, but it's nice to remember him. (my dumbass didn't realize this was blank when i posted this)

Alex Wesker: Unironically believes orchestra, opera, and classical music to be superior to all other music like she was raised to believe by the scientists. All other forms of music, to her, is unevolved, brutish, or just migraine inducing. If you worked in the lab with her, there was a list of music that was banned if you chose to listen to anything at all. It was also the only thing thag calmed her down before she took the Protype Virus, when she was chronically ill and expected to die, and what Albert chose to play when he visited her in her office. It was her last connection to her brother aside from her work of achieving immortality after Albert had perished, and the only thing that kept her tethered to this Earth.

Ada Wong: Her taste of music is as mysterious as the woman herself. Whoever she was getting information out of, or was spending a one night stand with picked the music. If the night was spent with Leon, whatever he suggested she went along with. Even if he suggested weird ass shit just to get a reaction out of her and try to learn something new about her. The only thing Leon learned was a hard no and would make her disappear for years was suggesting Weird Al. Good to know...

[heretolurkandnothingmore]

tag game time! 5 current favourite songs.

big thank you to 3 of my wonderful mutuals and treasured friends, (@cottonraincoat @willameena and @kingdomvel) for tagging me! you guys rock.

picking just five was a riddle and a half, so i elected to leave out the musicals and anything that's in russian. just let me know if you want the other (russian) list :D

i extend the invitation to @yourfavoritefridge, @piecesofeden11, @palfriendpatine66, @virahaus and @dreaminghour. have fun, dear ones)

now, in no particular order:

1. the oh hellos - soap. here representing the folk part of my playlist, filling in for the crane wives and of monsters and men. this song is a comfort. it's a midday drive on a long empty road with the windows open. it's dandelions breaking through the pavement in spring. basically, if you want a song telling you you're loved, look no further.

choice lyric: "all the things we've broken can be puzzled again and again."

2. mother mother - until it doesn't hurt. hello fellow shut-ins! did you just discover you haven't seen the light of day for three days? me too! and this song is just the thing to make us feel better about it. careful, side effects may include: feeling like you're in a kick-ass movie about revenge, getting goosebumps from the chorus, being inspired to write a new character. ok, that last one may just be me. but the song is still pretty good.

choice lyric: "i wanna fight, i wanna bite, i wanna swallow all the light"

3. the mountain goats - sax rohmer 1, here representing the lo-fi end of the spectrum. i have recommended tallahassee the album on this blog twice already, so today we're picking heretic pride. as a wise youtube comment once said, "the affection of no creature is left unrepresented in their songs" - this one is for those of us gritting their teeth through every day of all of this.

choice lyric: "all roads lead toward the same blocked intersection"

4. fall out boy - headfirst slide into cooperstown on a bad bet. time for a little guilty pleasure! i was torn between this and the killers or panic at the disco. the battle has been won by this beautiful earworm. perfect fit for when you need the music to just wash over you and drown out the rest.

choice lyric: "i don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness"

5. daughter - run. and the final one, here for all the other sad songs, having won over placebo, amigo the devil and florence of florence and the machine. i dare you to imagine your otp to this one - it's hard not to!)) good pick for those evenings when you need a singer to cry with you.

choice lyric: "i won't tell my mother, it's better she don't know. and he won't tell his folks, 'cause they're already ghosts"