Then Came the Night Playlist

Jan 24

With the third book in the Three Willows series out in the wild, it’s time for another playlist! The playlist is now available on Spotify. Read on to see why each song ended up on the list!

SPOILER WARNING!!

Reading on from here will 100% spoil the plot of Then Came the Night and the bonus novella The Ballad of Drew McBride for you. BEWARE! (You could grab a copy here, if you wanted!)

Christina Grimmie - Absolutely Final Goodbye: This song is everything Andrea wants to say to her father when she leaves home, and more. I imagine her trunk pounding down the stairs in time with the rhythm.

Royal Deluxe - Bad: Drew’s anthem as she enters Three Willows for the first time. She does everything she can to present as the baddest of badasses in the entire continental United States, and she often succeeds.

Halestorm - Here’s to Us (Guest Version): Three very important men changed Drew’s life for the better, and their years together made them closer than family. Granted, they were dangerous years of smuggling, but Drew wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.

Aztec Two-Step - Cockroach Cacophany: I’ve never found a song that describes the mental fog that years of depression traps you in better than this one. After the deaths of her companions, Drew is simply living day by day, only escaping into her memories when she sleeps, and haunted during the days.

Vandaveer - Spite: Drew and Jessalyn’s relationship is one that’s full of spite. They dislike each other immediately, and Drew purposefully tries to anger Jessalyn on purpose, because the reaction is just too good.

The Builders and the Butchers - The Night Pt. 2: I mean, it’s all there in the lyrics. The night ain’t filled with gentle things.

Junie & TheHutFriends - I Wanna Tell You a Secret: When Zedekiah takes the forms of the dead to torment our heroes, the duels start out innocently enough, but as they go on, he weaves his words with more uncertainty, more danger, more questions, until his victims no longer feel safe at all.

Over the Garden Wall - Come Wayward Souls: Were Zedekiah given more time to develop his personality and how he chooses to interact with others, he might view his terrifying visions as a way to help people. He takes them into the darkness, and they either emerge with new light and resolve or… they don’t.

The Bridge City Sinners - Through and Through: Isbell and religion DO NOT mix. She blames her upbringing for most of the tragedy in her life and is very convinced that the only person she can rely on in this world is herself. Despite this, she’s proud of who she is, and is unapologetic about her forceful personality.

Renaissance - Black Flame: During her time with Ordo Nocturnus, Isbell has witnessed and controlled some very dark and powerful forces. The power feeds her need for discovery and understanding, regardless of what it might be doing to the rest of her wellbeing or soul. Throwing herself into her work is the only thing that fills the holes in her heart.

Will Wood - Laplace’s Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!): Isbell has no shame in who she is or how she acts. She is repulsed by people who take the moral high ground, when the intellectual high ground, where she firmly stands, is the only one she sees value in. She’s been too cold to feel remorse for quite some time.

Art by Abril Puente

Richard Shindell - You Stay Here: As the duels carry on, Jessalyn and Sam find it harder and harder to talk to each other. In their efforts to stay strong for the other, they end up pushing each other away, a little. Those mutual sacrifices, though helpful, do more to hurt in the long run.

BELLE - A Million Miles Away: Jessalyn’s thoughts and feelings toward Sam both while he’s under Zedekiah’s spell, and throughout the duels. She’s here, she’s trying to reach out, but the circumstances keep them just too far apart.

Natalie Weiss - How to Return Home: Lilah has grown so much into an independent woman, she worries and fears what will happen when she comes home. Her old life and her new life are incompatible in her mind, and what will happen in one eclipses the other? Who does that leave her as?

Caleb Hyles - Amber and Rain: Jessalyn wrestles greatly with understanding who she is, her place in town, her place in her own life. It takes her a while to trust herself enough to know what she wants and who she wants, and to see that love and relationships are just as instrumental in defining yourself as anything else.

The Arcadian Wilds - Rain Clouds: A Roger and Isbell duet. They’ve both faced so much apart, and can only wonder what life would have been like if they spent it together. During those critical moments after Roger’s duel, as dark as Isbell is, Roger’s love was enough to wake her up, just a little.

Red Horse - Don’t Mind Me: Roger’s feelings for Jessalyn are complicated and precious. His love and respect run deep, and he would do anything to protect that bond. He does recognize that the way he cherishes her may not be reciprocated in her care for him, but that’s fine. He just wants to be with her and there for her.

Richard Shindell - So Says the Whippoorwill: A song for Roger. He’s grown so much since this story began and is gathering to tools, knowledge, and people to help him fight down his own doubts, fears, and worries.

The Hunts - Remember Us: Isbell and Roger, once again. They shared a home once. Things haven’t been so simple since then. Though they were forced apart, their childhood bond is enough to begin to bring them back together.

The Amazing Devil - Welly Boots: Farewell, Isbell. Her reunion with Roger carries heavy emotions for both of them, and her leaving on the train is a bittersweet scene to end on. There’s still hurt, there’s still worry, but they know now the other is strong enough to carry on on their own.