Dead Sara, Mighty Emily

The only way I can describe Emily Armstrong’s voice is with the word ‘astonishing’. I really am astounded by her vocal abilities, high notes, rough notes, clean notes, soft, loud, you name it. But what I like most is the emotional quality which is immensely powerful in a version of “Anybody” that I happened upon. It’s not the album version, it’s a stripped version where there are no vocal overdubs, just the power of a single voice. Mighty Emily’s voice, of course.

I looped “Anybody” for an emotionally charged chapter in my upcoming dystopian literature novel, Blood Interrogator. It was a very difficult chapter to write, but having this song in the background helped me focus my feelings into prose. The lyrics were running through my head as the protagonist had to face a very difficult situation with his young co-protagonist. Eventually I’ll write posts about the difference between looping a song, concentrating on single parts, focusing on the lyrics, and drawing inspiration to create characters. Back to Emily.

The raw emotional power of Emily’s voice is something I think is best understood when listening to the stripped version of “Anybody”, but it’s found in other songs. It is thanks to the lyrics and the music of “Starry Eyed” that I’m writing the urban fantasy novel, Null City. The book has an underlying theme of political oppression and the triumph of the human spirit, with some magic and bits of humour to make it fun. I can feel an unusual vibration from “Starry Eyed” that I can’t explain. Is that the physics of sound or the frequency of the human soul? I’ll let the reader ponder that question.

  “Starry Eyed” gave me a starting point for one of the two POV characters and made the novel much richer. The song is what helped me (nearly) complete the first draft in about six weeks while still writing other works. That’s the power of words when sung by a special voice.

More about the application of the songs in future posts!