Nox - A Playlist

Art by Jorie (Kitty on Lakeshore)

As we wrap up celebrating Many Realms' first birthday, Jillian brings you the final playlist: Nox! 

Listen: https://spoti.fi/2OT5cFM

The other playlists

Roman: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36789709
Kitty: https://www.patreon.com/posts/37207787
Susan: https://www.patreon.com/posts/38214381

A playlist about demons, souls, and double identities (Heavy on the Soul… because Nox doesn’t have one). Hazel said it best when she said Nox was a tough nut to crack. I definitely finished this playlist last because it took awhile for me to figure out how I might represent Nox’s journey and desires with music. There’s a lot of music about the Devil out there, but I wanted to avoid things that were heavily religiously coded. (Contains light spoilers for up to episode 14)

Me and the Devil - The Fratellis

I'm gonna sell this soul of mine

I'm digging the dirt for a sign

And pray to let my little light shine

Did I control-F souls on Spotify? Maybe. There is a whole genre of people singing that they’d sell their souls for love. Nox did no such thing, he just wanted to LIVE! I spent a long time trying to find the right indie masculine vibe for this playlist. I listen to a lot of women artists it turns out and that’s not the vibe I wanted. Honestly the opening creepy tones of this song sold me (not my soul though!) That very Lord of the Rings high-pitched whine. Deeply unsettling.

Mr. Impossible - Phantogram

Dead guy, I wanna see the light

What's  on the other side?

Will  that satisfy me?

God, I love Phantogram, which you know by now. I think this song has a heavy Susan influence. She would definitely call Nox “Mr. Impossible”. Wouldn’t you? Wounds don’t heal that fast!!!! How do you explain the supernatural? Fair is foul and foul is fair.  This song also asks “Is this what you wanted? No time for deciding” which sums up a demon contract pretty well.

Gold Guns Girls - Metric

I remember when we were gambling to win

Everybody else said better luck next time

I don't wanna bend, let the bad girls bend

I just wanna be your friend

Is it ever gonna be enough

Phantogram asks “Will that satisfy me” and Metric says “Nope!” This song is classic for the insatiable bad boy in any media. Nox is only interested in one thing: freedom. You can put the hottest lady in Lakeshore in front of him and he’ll say “Let’s be friends!” (Disclaimer: Opting out of romance is a valid RP choice. I’m just a sap and would absolutely romance Hazel)

Tightrope - Young The Giant

When I was seventeen

My father let me know

"Life isn't fun and games

Gotta sell your soul!"

This was one of the first songs I put on this playlist! For me, the tightrope is the way Nox teeters between his own desires and the whims of Laxes. Everything is chaos and the bass line is strong. Also I think it’s fun that a few of these songs mention parents since Nox’s relationship to his own has been strained forever. Hey remember Father Brewer (ep 9)? Funnily enough this song also mentions a preacher. RIP to his beautiful salt and pepper hair that had Jordan swooning.

It Will Come Back - Hozier

Don't give it a hand, offer it a soul

Honey, make this easy

Leave it to the land, this is what it knows

Honey, that's how it sleeps

Mmm that contract looks good doesn’t it? You know better but it's tempting! Hozier embodies temptation here and I love the way his words drip in places. Maybe this song has more Hazel vibes than Nox specific vibes, but I think in a lot of ways it speaks to the overall Tainted experience. There’s a line “I know who I am when I’m alone” and this plays into that double identity and desire theme for this playbook. Nox is a jazz musician and he won’t let you forget! But Laxes and other problems are always there to ask him to be somebody else.

Believe - The Kooks

I got a feeling

Like I'm somebody else

I'm gonna run with that

Until I let her know

I'm not a body

I'm just a soul

Does Nox believe in love? I have no idea! But I like to think that Hazel brought his dream of freedom into focus. The line “im not a body, i’m just a soul” really hit me though. The idea that without a soul, you’re a shell, just a body, is so interesting. I don’t think it’s fully true for the Tainted, but certainly the idea that something so essentially YOU is missing or locked away in a magical safe IS true. Like I said about the last song, we have that double identity or maybe forced identity returning in this song. Despite the fact that you have to make a wish to complete a demon contract, no one really ASKS to be Tainted, you know? 

I like the devil - purity ring

What is happiness but a word

Spoken from on high for what it's worth?

Flown beneath the wings of little birds

But I have felt the wind crawl where we're cursed

Apparently this song is about old feminine ideals and how the artist saw her family suffer trying to fulfill them. I picked this song for the contrast between these very real fears she’s singing about contrasted with her otherworldly voice. And Nox, like the devil, can fly if he rolls well enough.

Simmer - Hayley Williams

Rage is a quiet thing

You think that you've tamed it

But it's just lying in wait

One of my favourite Nox moments is in episode 4 when he gets his first corruption move. He describes feeling more like a monster and less in control for the first time. It was a really powerful moment and not just because he tore an NPC to shreds. Wrath and Mercy. What a spectrum. This song also has the line “petals for armour” in it, which is the title of the album *air horn*. In episode 14 (that just came out!!) Roman makes a comment about recognizing that the city makes you hard is the first step in becoming soft again. Hazel echoes “soft again” and it has HAUNTED me since we recorded it (in a good way). All that to say petals for amour as a sentiment is a big Tainted mood when you have chiton under your skin all the time.