The creative process and music

I have music playing when I'm writing. I normally stick to classical or stuff I know inside out, so the words don't creep in and pepper the manuscript. But I saw this composer and singer/songwriter on Breakfast TV, and the snippets of music dragged me in. I sent off for the CD, it's called The Disappearance of the Girl by Phildel.

Wow. Impressive, and so haunting I found I had to put it on in the background while I edited and tinkered with book 2. I found myself describing one scene in a very intense, immersed way, as it the track somehow connected me more deeply with my imagination. The words, normally distracting, weren't a problem. It's as if I could let the words flow in one ear and out of the other but the sounds and the meaning got stuck and helped me unlock the scene. It's also as if the music isn't just appealing to me, but to one of my more difficult characters as well. As if we have an added connection through our appreciation of these beautiful melodies and poetic words. Which, bearing in mind she is all born from my imagination in the first place makes it a bit odd that I find her so difficult to understand, but there she was, standing in the corner of the study (back to the door in case she needs to get out), head on one side, listening with me. Better than that, she broke out of the cage of childhood fears she is bound by, at least for a moment, and could see something true and important in her half-realised relationship with the man that loves her.

Another piece of music that did the same a couple of years ago was a collection of South American baroque including Hanacpachap cussicuinin  (doesn't exactly roll off the English tongue, but entrancing just the same). These bits of music don't come along that often, so I'm going to enjoy riding the imaginative wave The Disappearance of the Girl has produced. Magical stuff. 

Just to put the album in context, this is Phildel's bio from Amazon. It suggests a whole story in itself. 

Phildel is an artist whose deep appreciation for sound stems from an understanding of silence. During a childhood in which music was forbidden by her religious stepfather, she came to know silence well. Despite her furious love for music, for ten years she was left to imagine the sounds she would fill the silence with if she could. Following her departure from the oppressive household, her creativity erupted into an all-encompassing force. Composing day and night, Phildel created the epic, haunting and innovative music she had dreamt of. Her music is a journey into the landscape of her imagination, at times beautifully enchanting, at others, raw and horrific. Complimented on her 'sonic soundscapes' by Trevor Horn, she has won supporters around the world, her music being used by fashions designers, film directors, theatre producers and media campaigns.