Kitty - A Playlist

Art by Jorie (Kitty on Lakeshore)

As we continue to celebrate Many Realm's first birthday, Jillian (Susan on Lakeshore) brings you the second playlist for Kitty the Oracle as played by Jorie.
Listen: https://spoti.fi/2zNOhk6

If you missed the first one it's here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36789709

Kitty

A playlist about dreams, visions, and nightmares. This playlist is a rollercoaster that will take us through the ups and downs of being a psychic, when a happy home life is all that you want for you and yours. Starts on a positive, lucid note, ends in a swirling fog. Enjoy!

1. Dreams - The Cranberries

Oh, my life

Is changing every day

In every possible way

And oh, my dreams

It's never quite as it seems

They say dreams really do come true! One thing Jorie has talked about a lot is Kitty’s relationship with her husband Philip. She is open and honest with him about her visions and uses them for good to help him get ahead in his career. This song, as a love song, sets up their relationship and Kitty’s gifts all in one. 

2. Love Me Now - Phantogram

What's a loaded gun to me?

I wanna be the one to say goodnight

And if I change my style once again

I'm always caught between what you wish and what I am

We get to see pretty quickly the tension between Kitty and Philip as Kitty, grievously wounded, leaves home to solve a supernatural mystery (Episodes 5 & 7 have good moments of this). Kitty wears a lot of hats: wife, (step) mother, psychic, philanthropist -- and she’s determined to prove that she can be all of these things without compromising any of them.

3. Ending Start - Metric

When you try to see, we'll watch you

When you try to leave, we'll keep you

When you should be dreaming, we'll wake you

Did I challenge myself to get Metric into every playlist? Yes. Did I succeed? Also yes. This song starts to sow the seeds that these visions are not pleasant dreams. They are urgent, persistent, confusing, dangerous. But the tone of this song is soft like a lullaby which is fun contrast, but suited to Kitty who, in a city full of sharp words and hard shadows, is rather soft herself.

4. Fresh Laundry - Allie X

I want to wake up 

To friends calling 

I think I've had enough 

Of hard mornings 

I stumbled upon this song by accident and I almost skipped it when it came up in a Spotify list but I am so glad I listened to it because it captures the desire for domestic bliss so perfectly. I personally hate doing laundry, but if I got swept up into a supernatural mystery that kept me away from home, I would probably look forward to folding my clothes as a symbol of normalcy. But for Kitty, normal is also nice parties, galas, entertaining guests: the finery that comes with her wealth.

5. Let Me Down - Phantogram

I can't believe this nightmare just won't go away

There's no way, there's no way I'll let you down

My head's on fire, all around us, every day

The Phantogram tracks started on my Susan playlist and crept onto the others the more I listened. Their sound is a big Urban Shadows mood (with strong Apocalypse World flavours too)! Kitty tells Philip she can’t be the woman he married if her head is spinning with these visions of demons and monsters. This song is that feeling.

6. Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris - Hayley Williams

And I will not return

To where I once was

Well, I can break through the earth

Come out soft and wild

Hayley Williams has a solo album out now FYI. There are more of her songs on the other playlists because I, ex-Paramore-trash, love her. This album is very understated, feminine, and self-aware. This was the first song I heard, and honestly just singing about flowers made me think of Kitty. This song is all about self-growth, rebirth, and healing. Kitty, out of the four protagonists, starts the campaign with probably the least amount of darkness in her. Not that Urban Shadows turns its characters into villains necessarily, but it certainly explores the monstrosity of power. No matter what, characters will not be the same as they were at the start.

7. The Laundry Bin - Mree

I'm kind to cross myself in knots

A bow made just for you

Pull me this way,

That way,

I sway witless figurine

Welcome to the lullaby zone. I wanted the whole vibe of the playlist to be soft, but it starts with a lot of energy and grit, so the last three songs wind it down into an alluring illusion of calm. I also have to laugh that I found two songs related to laundry for this playlist. This song grounds us back in the domestic life Kitty once had, but I imagine it as the post-trauma revisitation of old routines where you go through the motions knowing things will never be the same.

8. Daydreaming - Radiohead

And it's too late

The damage is done

The damage is done

This goes

Beyond me

Beyond you

This song ends the playlist for just the music alone. The music we use in the show for her visions made me think of this track. I didn’t really listen to the lyrics at first honestly, they just happen to fit. I really love the way the melody slowly spins off key because I think it captures the Urban Shadows principle of keeping the characters’ lives constantly evolving and out of control but in a soft, drowsy, Kitty way. Sweet Dreams!