#dear wormwood is one of my favorite albums of all time so i have very strong feelings on it

[somehowmags]

man it makes me really sad when people ignore the religious theming of soldier poet king to be like “well its about my blorbo/dnd character now” bc like...dear wormwood is such a deeply religious album religion and god are so central to the whole thing that it feels really like...disingenuous to try to erase the religious themes of any of the songs. like you are looking at this beautiful piece of art about love and heartbreak and the apocalypse and god and intentionally discarding a central theme so it can be more easily consumed. why did you listen to the christian indie folk rock band if you didn’t want to hear christian indie folk rock. im not even christian but it bothers me

[rivaindaisies]

some dragon age music headcanons bc it’s fucking late and i feel extra neurodivergent today

origins

morrigan is such a fucking edge lord in this game, she absolutely gatekeeps what she listens to but it’s pretty basic alternative stuff. arctic monkeys but only am and fsvorite worst nightmare, mindless self indulgence, a lot of joy division (she absolutely is the type of person to go up to someone in an unknown pleasures shirt and ask them to name three songs), some nirvana, pixies, etc. her favorite songs are arabella by arctic monkeys, back to the old house by the smiths, and probably mascara by deftones. she doesn’t listen to metal a lot but has a few deftones and lamb of god songs on her playlists.

leliana is trying to recreate her life in this game. she’s running from a lot of things, but also beginning to reflect. since she hasn’t been through as much as she has in inquisition, her music taste is much more relaxed here. i think she’d love dreamy shit, like the cocteau twins and the sundays especially. she listens to some lana del rey as well, mostly just nfr/lust for life. there’s a band called another sunny day i feel like she’d fuck with a lot too. her favorite songs are goodbye by the sundays and white mustang by lana del rey.

alistair listens to top 40 and nothing else

origins is my least favorite so i can’t think of much else for companions, i have the lowest time played as well so 🤷‍♂️

da2

varric has the most dad music taste you could imagine. all classic rock, nothing else. i can very clearly imagine him cruising around blasting ac/dc and kiss.

fenris doesn’t listen to music, he just sort of goes along with what the others are playing. he likes slower songs, they help calm him down. if romanced, he ends up listening to the songs hawke likes and developing the same music taste as them and i think it would be a connection for them

isabela has some rare genuine self awareness in the music she listens to. she listens to lana del rey and marina and the diamonds, and that’s about it. her favorite albums from lana are born to die, paradise, and ultraviolence. her favorite marina albums are electra heart and froot. her favorite songs are i’m a ruin/rootless by marina, ride by ldr, and the other woman by ldr as well. hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have is the only later lana song she like LOVES. basically 2014 tumblr taste but oh well

merrill listens to mainly instrumental music, either classical guitar or orchestral music. it helps her focus and calms her down quite a bit. she also really enjoys folk music. some of her favorite albums are shaken by a low sound by crooked still, someday we will foresee obstacles by syd matters, and dear wormwood by the oh hellos.

anders is also an angst fest. he listens to a lot of the smiths, mother mother (and hes very particular about being a “real fan” and knowing them before they blew up) and some nu metal as well. his favorite songs are this charming man by the smiths, 7 words by deftones, and you should all be murdered by another sunny day. calm me down by mother mother as well.

aveline listens to ed sheeran and coldplay exclusively. i don’t know why i feel this way but i do and im gonna leave it at that

inquisition

leliana has been through so much over the last ten years, and the music she listens to reflects that. she doesn’t listen to music much anymore, but has a couple songs that she listens to. her taste is a lot heavier now- deftones, lamb of god, and some death metal as well. no specific bands, just whatever is the loudest and heaviest. i hc that morrigan showed her a few smiths songs during origins, and the one that stuck with her most is that joke isn’t funny anymore. she listens to it a lot, and relates to it a lot. it’s her favorite song. a few honorable mentions to that are sextape by deftones, and blood of the scribe by lamb of god. sometimes, she listens to the songs she loved back in dao times and gets lost in the memories of that time. her favorite song for that is the greatest by lana del rey.

josephine is mainly a classical/opera listener. i cannot picture her listening to anything else. maybe sometimes she gets angry, or exhausted/fed up with her job, and listens to the things she considers to be “heavy” but it’s something like acdc which she considers to be basically death metal because it has an audible electric guitar.

the chargers just blast dad music 24/7, along with varric/sera/blackwell.

cassandra absolutely listens to love songs all the time. she falls asleep listening to a playlist filled with songs like video games/love song/without you/lucky ones by lana. i feel like she was absolutely a tumblr girl and never grew out of that music taste despite presenting as an absolute hardass.

dorian adores artists like kylie minogue, lady gaga, etc. his favorite songs are shampain by marina, aura by lady gaga, and 911 also by gaga lmao. he also for SURE owns a justice for artpop shirt.

i have a lot more but don’t want to type any more out if this gets any attention i’ll add more tho- if you’ve somehow read this far into my adhd rambles thank you 🙏🙏 and comment ur thoughts/ideas of what characters would listen to

[yurigalactica]

Any assortment of 1, 2, 7, 9, 17, 21, 22, 30 for the music ask game! It's alot but I couldn't decide which ones lol. U don't have to answer them all just pick ur favorites

jokes on you jinx i am so obsessed with music and deep within my own brainrot that i will be answering ALL of them >:D 1. a song you can listen to on repeat

now this question in particular is really hard for me, because i tend to listen to a lot of songs on loop a lot. however most of the time doing so easily makes me sick of it and i have to take a break from listening to it for a few weeks. however one of the songs i listen to a lot and never seem to get bored of is Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales by Car Seat Headrest. especially the end bit, it really scratches my brain the right way, and it's really fun to belt out the harmonies in the car when you're driving through town in the evening

2. a song from one of your favorite albums

it's no secret that i'm a slut for los campesinos. everyone knows this about me. so it's kinda obligatory that i use one of their songs for these asks lmao. my favorite album of theirs in particular is definitely romance is boring (i just adore so many songs on that album!!! genuinely it's banger after banger, i highly recommend listening to the whole album.) my personal all-time favorite from that album is definitely In Media Res, just because of the ending bit with the trumpets. holy shit i get such a surge of dopamine when gareth campesinos goes "if you were given the option of dying painlessly in peace at forty five, with a lover at your side, after a full and happy life, is this something that would interest you? would this interest you at all?" just—AGH

7. a song that reminds you of your friend(s)

this one's easy—Dynamite by BTS. my irl best friend loves k-pop (stuff like BTS and Stray Kids), and while i don't listen to it on my own, i've gotta admit, she's got immaculate taste. dynamite is the one i hear the most around, playing on the radio (because it's mostly in english and i live in a country where most people i know speak english as a first language). so literally anytime i hear this song i find myself immediately thinking of her and going to text her about it LMAO

9. a song that reminds you of yourself 

this one was definitely the hardest to answer, and quite frankly, i sat at my desk for a solid hour trying to find a good one for this. but after some careful deliberation i had to go with Dear Wormwood by the oh hellos. the oh hellos are an incredible band and i genuinely adore all of their music, and highly recommend you listen to their entire discography. this song, though, holds a very special place in my heart—after all, it was my number one song on my spotify wrapped during 2020. it was the song i had on loop during the entirety of quarantine, when i was stuck in my bedroom, isolating myself from everyone in real life and online. during those months i didn't talk to any of my friends, not even over text. my only steady companion was my beloved spotify premium subscription. listening to this song over 500 times permanently altered my brain chemistry and i'm pretty sure it's the reason i have anxiety now /j

17.  a song with great lyrics 

holy fuck. holy fucking shit. To Tundra by los campesinos. i literally froth at the mouth anytime i think of this song oh my gosh. i made a whole post about it ages ago but i'll go on about it again. like "meet me at st. nicholas among the oaks, behind the church that sway like pig-tailed girls as summer wind whistles around your bare-skin knees and the forsythia leaves" KADGKKDFHKADFKHK THE IMAGERY AHHHHHHHH "and in a hazy daydream, our bodies married the stream and we broke down into pebbles and silt" SCREAMING SOBBING VOMITING /pos "we take on the burden of all these sad-eyed children with lilies bunched in our hands" i am literally going to eat a brick this makes me feel so many emotions

21. a song for the rain

Woman by the 1975, probably. there are a lot of good songs to listen to in the rain but this probably takes the cake just because of how echoey and melancholy it feels. i love it when artists do that kind of stuff with the guitar and make it carry out really long—and almost make it sound like it's wailing. it's one of my favorite electric guitar effects ever and i've always found that the 1975 does that really well! and as a guitar player myself how a guitar is played and how it affects the rest of the song is really important in my picking of a favorite song. this one in particular is very versatile, and i feel like you could listen to it not only in the rain, but at night in the car too.

22. a song for dancing 

Tongue Tied by grouplove!!! it's genuinely one of the most happy fun upbeat songs i know. it's like dancing in the kitchen while making cookies with your bestie at 2am kind of music. if you need to cheer yourself up and have an impromptu dance party with energy and excitement then this is the song for you!!! ultimate anti-depression song. and this also happened to be my most listened to song in my spotify wrapped 2021 if that tells you anything about how that year was for me /lh

30.  a song you recommend

Do Me A Favour by the arctic monkeys. i've been listening to them a whole lot more lately, mostly because i also admire their guitar work and also feel like their music vibe fits very well with a fic that i've been workshopping for a while and have not released yet. this one in particular is my ultimate favorite of theirs, probably because of the guitar and the lyrics that go together (but probably mostly because of how well it fits the overall vibe of the fic it goes with. and if you're interested in what it is, it's a benchtrio-centric mystery/horror au)

[eirianerisdar]

4, 12, 13, 23!

Thanks for the ask, Zanna! <3

4. Total number of words you wrote this year

It is Eternal Winter There - 49,459

The Ransom of the House of Fëanor - 97,997

A Song in Stone - 13,844

The Shadow of a Friend - 9,338

The Last Ember - 9,883

In total, 180,521 (plus another couple hundred words of the last chapter of A Song in Stone)

I have to say, the total word count surprised me given fact my job makes it impossible to write for months-long stretches at a time.

12. favorite character to write about this year

Ah, Elrond. As strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves and as kind as summer. When I first started writing The Ransom of The House of Fëanor, I thought Maglor would be the most prominent subject of my usual restricted third person POV. But Elrond had his own ideas, and his narrative background and history just made him too delicious of a character to explore. He has lost three fathers, a mother, a twin, and a wife (though presumed to be waiting for him in canon). He will lose another son and a daughter before he sails West at the end of ROTK, and yet he is kind.

Funnily enough, for all their apparent differences, Elrond's actually quite similar to my second favourite character to write - Dante from Devil May Cry. Dante wears his smiles like a shield, but he has lost so much, and loves too fiercely to protect his own heart.

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

*SLAMS DOWN CUP OF TEA* I WILL WAX ELOQUENT ABOUT The Oh Hellos.

Their songs remain some of the most lyrically complex and gorgeously yearning I have ever encountered. Rounds is the last song of a four album series named after the four winds, and speaks of how breath is unending words and endless chords; how artistry is inheritance.

Their album Dear Wormwood is also glorious.

But coming in very close second in my listing of favourite artists are The Longest Johns. They have wonderful interpretations of traditional sea shanties, working songs and traditional melodies. My favourite song of theirs is Here's a Health to the Company, a song that fits every farewell, from DnD to the last night before a final, desperate battle.

23. Fics you wanted to write but didn’t

My Devil May Cry readers are very patient - I finally got to writing Tolkien-based fics like I'd been wanting to for ten years, and never got round to writing the third fic in my DMC series. This next one was supposed to be about Nero figuring out how to propose to Kyrie, and Vergil being the absolute worst source of advice in that area - mixing in some delicious background regarding Vergil and Nero's mother before Nero was born. I should get started on it sometime.

As for The Ever-Fixéd Star, I still have the final chapter of A Song in Stone to go, and the next fic in the series, where the Fëanor, Fingolfin, and Finarfin go hunting in the far northern mountains of Aman and are caught in a snowstorm. As it turns out, all it needs for millennia-old grievances to come to a head is an injured little brother, memories of the Helcaraxë, and grief for a long passed father.

And then there's the whole other can of worms that is the epic I thought up with my twin @wafflesrisa, where Maedhros, Maglor, Elrond and Elros occasionally blip in and out of their timeline, meeting each other in past and present, like The Time Traveller's Wife. Makes for some excellent angst around certain events pre and post Sirion, Angband, and Numenor.

Thanks for the ask!

Ask me end of year fanfic asks

[mmhawkes]

when u get this u have to put 5 songs 🎵 u actually listen to, publicly. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (if you'd like to; positivity is cool)✨

Here we go…

Zeit - Rammstein (“Zeit / bitte bleib stehen, bleib stehen / Zeit / das soll immer so weitergehen / Zeit / es ist so schön, so schön / ein jeder kennt den perfekten Moment.“ I have been a huge Rammstein fan since college. And this song from their newest album is beautiful and poignant and I could listen to it a million times. The single also has a remix of it done with Olafur Arnalds, which I highly recommend.)

Dear Wormwood - The Oh Hellos (“I know who I am now / and all that you’ve made of me / I know who you are now / I name you my enemy.” I love the Oh Hellos so much. And this is probably their best album/song. It’s a poignant take on The Screwtape Letters, from the perspective of the “subject” from the book. Also listen to Hello My Old Heart because I love that song.)

Oh, Sing - The Native Sibling (“Evening, we have gathered here / comfort songs, broken / to hear tales of old, lessons learned again retold / oh, sing, sing my song.” I just love this song. Very little else to add.)

The Lost Words Blessing (“Look to the sky with care, my love / and speak the things you see / let the new names take and root and thrive and grow / and even as you travel on past dying stars exploding / like the gilded one in flight / leave your little gifts of light.” Ok, it is very difficult to not just write out the whole song here. It honestly makes me weep. This is an offshoot of the Lost Words project started by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris, which was about embracing nature-based words that had been dropped from the Oxford Children’s Dictionary, and has since grown to be a few beautifully illustrated books of poetry and a collaborative music project both embracing and mourning nature. It’s amazing.)

Boy - John Mark Nelson (“I know blowing in the wind / there’s a voice that calls my name / don’t fear your life, boy / grow and change” Another one I just really like.)

I listen to so much music, and I love sharing music, that this could get out of hand really quickly. It’s good that it specified five songs!

[demigodsanswer]

What are everyones favorite songs/bands?

(all links go to Youtube)

Percy: It’s been said before, but this boy is a music snob. He only listens to “real music” and for sure has London Calling and Sticky Fingers on vinyl. Sally can always tell when he’s had a bad day, because he comes home and listens to The Wall (because he’s a drama queen). Bisexual music snob Percy for sure has this poster of Jim Morrison on his wall, and not just because he’s a fan of The Doors: 

He is also a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His favorite song by them is “Easily” (some of the lyrics are: “The story of a woman on the morning of a war / Remind me, if you will, exactly what we're fighting for / Throw me to the wolves because there's order in the pack / Throw me to the sky because I know I'm coming back”). He’s also a fan of Rise Against, and his favorite album by them is Appeal to Reason. 

Annabeth: Listen, I’m gonna say something potentially controversial, but it’s something I believe very strongly in. Annabeth is a Britney Spears fan. Hard core. She was born in 1993 and got to camp in 2000. You know that older girls at camp were all learning the dance moves to “Oops I Did It Again” and she learned with them. In 2007, when Britney had her breakdown, Annabeth looked back on her own past three years - the quest for the lightning bolt, the sea of monsters, holding up the sky, and going into the Labyrinth, and she just thought “Oh okay. I’m not gonna do it, but I totally get it.”

And for a while she hid this, writing it off as a guilty pleasure. But then, somewhere after the war with Gaia, she was finally like “fuck it. I’m Annabeth Chase, I’ve saved the world, I redesigned Olympus. I like Britney Spears and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.” Now she’ll unironically say things like: “I didn’t like the Greatest Showman, I thought it was too derivative of the Britney Spears Circus music video.” This does annoy her music snob boyfriend to no end, but she just responds to his complaints with: “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over how much fun I’m having.” 

Grover: I feel like he and Percy just chill in the woods and listen to the Grateful Dead while Grover plays covers of their songs on his reed pipes. 

Nico: This is also potentially controversial. I don’t think he’d really like pop punk or emo music. I think that he’d actually really enjoy more mellow indie-folk music. I think he’d love Hozier (favorite song is “Be” and “In a Week”. He also loves Hadestown, both the musical and the original concept album. Besides Hozier, he also loves the band the Oh Hellos. His favorite song by them (and possibly his favorite song of all time) is “Dear Wormwood.” 

Thalia: Green Day, but especially newer Green Day. She did not pay attention to the parental advisory warning on American Idiot and now she’s gay and she hates the government. Her favorite song is “Letterbomb,” and, although she’s not a fan of musical theater generally, she has to admit that Rebecca Naomi Jones killed that song on the musical album. 

Piper: I don’t know what her favorite band would be, but she for sure has the energy of someone who says “Oh yeah, I like Panic! at the Disco, but only their early stuff, like A Fever You Can’t Swear Out and Pretty Odd.” But then she secretly jams to Prey for the Wicked. 

Leo: He for sure likes comedy music, like Bo Burnham (favorite song is the Kanye Rant) and Lewberger’s “White People Taco Night.”

Jason: Jason has the energy of a white boy who loves the Beatles. His favorite song is probably “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” His favorite movie is “Across the Universe.” 

Hazel: I don’t know what her favorite band/singer/song would be, but I do know that Jason tried to get her to listen to Abby Road once, and she laughed in his face. 

Frank: I think that Frank just vibes with everything. Doesn’t matter what it is. Spotify is so confused by what to recommend him, because he’s just got the most eclectic playlists. The algorithm is like “Do you want show tunes? KPop? Rock? R&B? What do you want??”

Clarisse: I don’t think she’d really care about music that much, she just wants music thats upbeat to workout to. If she were to go to a band’s concert live, she’d probably go see the Dropkick Murphy's; they’re probably the only band that she actually listens to when she’s not working out (she prefers audiobooks and podcasts for things like commutes to work/class and downtime). Her favorite song by them is “Rose Tattoo.” One time, she wore a Murphy’s tee shirt to a bar, and the bartender asked if she was from Boston or if she was Irish, and she just said: “No, but I’m white and violent, so I feel spiritually connected to them.”

Will: I think that he’d be the one to be obsessed with early 2000s pop punk and emo music. Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, Say Anything, all of it. He hears the opening chords to “Cute Without the E” and he loses his damn mind. 

I can’t do everyone, because I’ve pretty much only listened to the same 48 songs for the last decade. Also my youtube algorithm is not fucked from searching for all this music. 

[prinsesa-ng-musika]

My Reactions to Boreas (the EP) by The Oh Hellos ❄

I recorded my initial thoughts on audio so I know exactly what came to mind. Post-recording thoughts in parenthesis. Under the cut because of length.

1. A Kindling, of Sorts -already heard this in 08.21.20 but whatever

-still very much love it

-you build a kindling to start a fire meanwhile this song builds up until all the rest of the instruments join in and that's so cool

-still adoring the torches motif + dry branches motif

2. Cold

-wait this intro is so cute

-wow i like this song

-this so christmassy

-which is fitting since it's ber months already haha

-the greek mythology allusions!!!

-this song is a tyler + maggie duet and honestly i like that already

-(in reference to the fourth verse) this gives me grow vibes (idk why i said that lol probably because of "chokes it back"

-this motif sounds familiar omg but i can't place it??? (two listens later: WAIT it's passerine aaa love [you know your ear is bad when you can't even recognize your fave toh song's melody smh])

-the mention of patricians and the rich is such interesting imagery (in retrospect: especially in relation to eurus!)

3. Lapis Lazuli

-TYLER we stan a king 👑

-hey i like the song!

-this song hits this song hits this song hits (for context as i was listening [and even currently] i was not in a good place bc Family Issues)

-what is a rayleigh (yes i'm uneducated pardon me)

-oooh this song's about truth that's neat

-blue as the color of truth while it's also usually the color of nobility or loyalty hmm🤔

-(in retrospect: THE DEAR WORMWOOD CALLBACK AAA)

-this gives me constellations vibes!

4. Rose

-i found the song that's most explicitly christian related and as a catholic and a lover of the song passerine i am Getting Ready (i based this on the bio and annotations on genius)

-this is the passerine of boreas isn't it

- "my mouth don't taste of metal" reminds me of "my palms and fingers still reek of gasoline" in the sense that they mention a body part, a sense, and a flavor/smell

-is this why boreas (the song) is themed around sacrifice as well, because rose starts the concept about suffering and sacrifice first?

-oh is this a reference to sleeping beauty?

-oh Yikes

-oh is the "hangman" supposed to be the hanged man like in tarot cards? i love that symbolism of sacrifice and martyrdom

5. Smoke Rising Like Lifted Hands

-mm okay so i think i still prefer akos more

-but i do like how it gives the vibe of smoke rising

-i think cause of the upward progression of notes?? (i'm not very good at analyzing music by ear sooo feel free to explain to me why it Sounds Like That)

6. Boreas

-skipping mostly bc y'all already know what my thoughts are (search "the oh hellos boreas" on my blog and scroll up a lot)

-but one significant thing is that this is the song i started crying at

-and it continued until glowing

7. Glowing

-(in retrospect: oh what is that morse code??? i later learn that it doesn't mean anything [kloud bdix tho 🍉]. however, i absolutely freaking ADORE the concept of "a message trying to get thru in the midst of darkness" 💙💙💙)

-i like the tune! as in, the overarching one that goes up-down-up

-THE "IN THE END" FROM THE FIRST PLACE CONNECTING WITH "IN THE END" FROM BOREAS I'M 😭😭😭

-not sure but i kind of see lines pertaining to the day of judgment/the second coming/afterlife?? maybe i'm focusing too much on the first part but that would be interesting

-*insert audible crying noises*

-i *sniff* like *sniff* this *sniff* one

-rose + boreas + glowing and their mentions of sacrifice... i appreciate that

-the journey across this 20 minutes is beautiful... we decayed and then we went numb and then we sacrificed ourselves and then we were brought back to life... and that's where ideas come from 😭😍💚💙🍉❤

Okay, on first listen, it's either Boreas or Glowing that's my current favorite BUT I need to relisten so it's fair as I've listened to Boreas ten times already and have only listened to others once (I have now listened to Cold thrice, and am getting more endeared to it and its simple, repetitive melody) but this was such a pleasant album to listen to. It's my first time reacting to an album on the day it got released and with no prior knowledge about it, and it was a great experience. Love y'all passerines, stay glowing 💙