Today I’d like to share one of the soundscapes behind my upcoming novel, The Kaleidoscopic Universe. 🚀

About 95% of the time, I only write to two playlists, and this is one of them.

It’s simply called: 🍄‍🟫

That music helps me tune into certain places, such as the one below: a vision of the blue forests and silvery sands of Ashraya Island, where the story begins.

Isn’t the rockturtle cute?

Rockturtles evolved to blend into the lava rock around the island. And that peak is Zikhara Peak. (IYKYK)

My 🍄‍🟫 playlist is what I put on to tune into this work, how I tune back into the silvery sands of the Ashraya archipelago.

The playlist is a bit trippy without being distracting — introspective without being too heavy.

A lot of this playlist features the artist Suitnop, who was originally the drummer for Foster the People before leaving the band. His solo work has a spacious, hypnotic quality that I just love.

It keeps me moving forward without pulling my attention away from TextEdit. (I know; I’m basic in that way 😂)

There’s also quite a bit from Bayonne on this playlist, who I’ve been getting into more recently. His music feels calm and expansive at the same time. He also has a lovely emotional depth that often sparks new ideas in my writing.

Why Share?

I’m sharing this playlist because people sometimes ask what kind of music I write to. And I suspect some of you might enjoy using it as a creative backdrop too. (If not, no worries. I realize this kind of music might repel some people 🤪)

Whether you are writing, drawing, thinking, or just trying to drop into a different headspace, this playlist tends to help me get there.

I’ve actually put a lot of work into the sequence of these tracks, tweaking them dozens of times over the 18 months I’ve been using this playlist, entirely for my own enjoyment.

For instance, “Men Hitting Trees with Sticks” flows perfectly into “Let Me Die,” even though they were never sequenced that way by Suitnop. (Don’t worry, there are no lyrics in either. Just funny song titles.)

Here is the playlist if you want to explore it or borrow it for your own creative rituals:

Spotify Link to My Playlist →

You can also follow me on Spotify if that’s your thing. And if you end up using it while working on something, I’d genuinely love to hear what it helps you make.

Coming Up

I have another album I may share next week that was a big inspiration for the recent rewrite too, but that one is best experienced on its own.

Until then, what do you think? Would you like more Spotify playlists, or would you rather see YouTube playlists?

If you’re in a pinch, you can find Suitnop’s music on YouTube, too. I find I have to baby-sit the Youtube algorithm a bit more to keep it going after a single EP, but here’s a link. I found it on YouTube here →

big hugs,
Andrew

P.S. In the coming weeks, I’ll be reaching out to concept artists for the Kaleidoscopic Series. These Sora visualizations, along with my book cover mood board, will be helpful for that process.