Hold Back the Stars music playlist

Every writer has a music playlist for their book. Don't they?

At the very least, the music you imagine the scenes set to – a trailer reel in your brain. I, personally, use music as a way to transition from my day job back into the world of the novel each evening; I listen to a select playlist as I drive home from work, letting the music lead my imagination away from Microsoft Outlook and any office politics, back towards the meteor showers, light-up dance floors, and first dates in abandoned observatories of the story I'll be writing when I get back home.

Hold Back the Stars has been available in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand for a year now, give or take. At this point, some people have read it – and if that's you, if you bought or reviewed a copy: thank you. I so hope you fell for Carys and Max, as they fell through space.

If you've read the novel and imagined the above moments, here is the Hold Back the Stars playlist. These are the songs I have always heard in my head over many of the scenes in the novel, while writing and editing the story over the past three years. 

If you haven't read the book, yet, but are thinking about it… well, hopefully it might get you in the mood for a story about first love and heartbreak, told as a couple fall through space with only ninety minutes of air remaining.

1. Heartbeats // The Knife

2. Waiting (PAL Remix) // Alice Boman

3. Together // The xx

4. Speaking in Tongues // Arcade Fire

5. Love // Lana Del Rey

6. Abandon Window // Jon Hopkins

7. Radio Silence // James Blake

8. I Would Die 4 U // Prince

9. Says // Nils Frahm

10. Your Young Voice // King Creosote

You can listen to the playlist on Spotify.

Own Hold Back the Stars in sparkling hardback or glittering paperback, both available now.