Music to Write By: Dirtwire

Music is an absolutely essential element of writing for me. Long drives and a few good albums has inspired the majority of my story ideas, and music is a critical part of the writing process itself. The right ambience and lyrics will send your mind sailing to the far off lands of imagination. It can teach you a character's thoughts and motivations, send your heart racing through your next action sequence, and sting your eyes at every tragedy you pen.

Finding the "right" music can occupy far too much of a writer's time - trust me, I've procrastinated for hours building the perfect playlist to write by, only to get a mere few sentences written by the end of the day. So when I happen upon those certain artists and albums that just scream ambience and inspiration, I absolutely have to share them. Hopefully in so doing I'll save some others the time of clicking through YouTube's recommended music videos deeper and deeper into oblivion until you're listening to some dark grunge ambient electro folk singer from Siberia and you don't even know what you want to write anymore, let alone if the sounds you're listening to are actually music or a cat about to barf a hairball on an electric guitar.

This week, I was lucky enough to happen upon Dirtwire, an electro-acoustic duo whose soundscapes of trippy beats, backwoods guitar plucking, and badass-yet-chill vibe has me obsessed. If you were smoking a wooden pipe on the back-step of your gypsy wagon, you'd listen to this. If you were a rogue on the long dusty road to unknown adventure, this would play for you. If you were an adventurer exploring the stone ruins of an ancient city lost to time - you get the idea.

Comprised of David Satori of Beats Antique and Evan Fraser of Stellamara (both bands also very worthy of giving a listen to), Dirtwire has a distinct sound that is laid-back enough to suit almost any mood, with a hint of steampunk in its exotic electro beats. Not to mention the huge array of instruments Satori and Fraser bring to the table is downright impressive, with everything from the piano to the jimbush, the harmonica to bones (which can actually be real bones depending on how they're made, only adding to the badassery).

Their entire self-titled album is available to listen to FOR FREE on their Bandcamp page. There is also a "name your price" option to buy the album, which is a great option for those of us who wish to support these guys to keep producing but are also a little lacking in the money department ourselves.
Wishing you all love, light, and inspiration <3 Enjoy!