Songs That Remind You of TLD

[Obsidian Productions]

I tend to listen to music when I write, and subsequently I've gathered a lot of ambient tracks that evoke certain moods. Given that I write horror more often than not in some capacity, I tend to look for creepy or lonely tracks. Some of the ones I've found really strike me as fitting well in The Long Dark, and I thought I'd share, and ask if anyone here has any tracks they've heard that they think might fit.

• Alone by Jay-Lounge
• POU by Carbon Based Lifeforms
• Love is an Infection by Lzn_02
• Writing the Letter by Marc Streitenfeld
• Suicide by Marc Streitenfeld (Both from The Grey OST. Honestly, that whole soundtrack fits since The Grey is basically the TLD movie.)

These are some of my top ones. All the links lead to YouTube videos. Anyone else have any?

[hozz1235]

Blame @Ice Hole

[ThePancakeLady]

 

[Obsidian Productions]

@ThePancakeLady I love that song! And yeah, I can see it.

[ManicManiac]

A Warm Place by Trent Reznor

I think it fits the game rather nicely.

[Obsidian Productions]

1 minute ago, ManicManiac said:

A Warm Place by Trent Reznor

I think it fits the game rather nicely.

Oh yeah, a lot of Trent's isolating ambient stuff. Like In This Twilight. And The Frail.

[ManicManiac]

24 minutes ago, Obsidian Productions said:

Oh yeah, a lot of Trent's isolating ambient stuff. Like In This Twilight. And The Frail.

Absolutely, and I could easily put together a massive companion playlist just centered around his music (spanning the 30+ albums in his catalog)...  I mean, Year Zero by itself is basically a soundtrack to a storytelling narrative he wove, set in a dystopian/post apocalyptic world (though largely different in tone compared to this game, but it would still work in a lot of ways  )...

...but I thought I would just offer one entry that I felt would encapsulate the feeling I get as I walk though the desolation of Great Bear.

Edited July 5, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, Obsidian Productions said:

@ThePancakeLady I love that song! And yeah, I can see it.

Yeah, the lyrics... TLD all the way. And it feels very Stalker Mode, rushing the Summit, or running Hopeless Rescue... it just strikes a chord.

Great list of songs so far, here. Love it.

[ajb1978]

Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel for sure.  "And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming.  And the sign said 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and the tenement halls, and whispered in the sound of silence."

Also while the music itself is a little too upbeat, the lyrics to the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby reminds me of TLD.  "All the lonely people, where do they come from?  All the lonely people, where do they belong?"

Edit: Mad World by Gary Jules too.  The main theme for TLD reminds me of it quite a bit.

Edited July 5, 2019 by ajb1978

[ThePancakeLady]

2 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel for sure.  "And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming.  And the sign said 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and the tenement halls, and whispered in the sound of silence."

 

Love the original, grew up with that song. The version by Disturbed hits for me even more, when it comes to TLD. Just something about his voice, the grittier sound, and the mood he creates...

 

[ajb1978]

Just now, ThePancakeLady said:

Love the original, grew up with that song. The version by Disturbed hits for me even more, when it comes to TLD. Just something about his voice, the grittier sound, and the mood he creates...

Yeah although rare, sometimes a cover surpasses the original.  Like when Johnny Cash did Hurt.  Trent Reznor himself even said something to the effect of "He owns that song now.  It is his."

[Martin Prchal]

"The Thin Ice" by Pink Floyd isn't bad either.  "Don't be surprised when a crack in the thin ice appears under your feet" always hits home when crossing the skeg. To be honest anything by Pink Floyd has the same relaxing atmosphere as the TLD soundtrack.

[UpUpAway95]

14 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel for sure.  "And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming.  And the sign said 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and the tenement halls, and whispered in the sound of silence."

Also while the music itself is a little too upbeat, the lyrics to the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby reminds me of TLD.  "All the lonely people, where do they come from?  All the lonely people, where do they belong?"

Edit: Mad World by Gary Jules too.  The main theme for TLD reminds me of it quite a bit.

Depending on what the full Wintermute story will wind up being, it's almost hard not to believe that "Sounds of Silence" didn't play some sort of role in inspiring this game.  When I first saw the scene just before the plane crash in Wintermute as Will and Astrid are finally trying to talk about their past, I was instantly reminded of a couple of lines from this song (out of order though):

"Hear my words that I might teach you.  Take my arms that I might reach you.  But my words like silent raindrops fall.  And echoed in the wells of silence."

"When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, that split the night and touched the sound of silence"

[Carbon]

I've posted this music before, but for me, most of Erik Satie's work captures TLD's mood and atmosphere perfectly. This is perhaps his most well-known piece, but it is a fitting sample.

The last thing I want when playing is lyrics; it takes away that feeling of isolation and calm. Satie provides the perfect soundtrack for my peaceful, meditative experience.

[ManicManiac]

1 hour ago, Carbon said:

The last thing I want when playing is lyrics

Agreed, I think instrumentals are way to go in terms of tailoring my own personal soundtracks.  This way I get to sort of shape the atmosphere and mood of the game for while I play.  That is to say, when I'm so inclined...  I do think the actual score for the game is rather perfect... but on very rare occation it's nice to have some other pieces of "mood music" as well.   

Edited July 7, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

 

Lol! I rarely listen to anything but the in-game soundtrack when playing. In Stalker, I sure as heck don't listen to loud songs. The ones I posted are ones that remind me of TLD, not ones that I listen to while playing it. 

In Pilgrim or Voyageur runs, I will sometimes play a classical playlist, since I don;t need to hear every little noise, and I know those runs are basically "chill out" disposable runs, and I don't have as much personally invested in them, as I do in my Stalker runs. For those "relax and die" runs, here are a few I will put on in the background, though not on headsets:

That said, none of these "remind" me of TLD, particularly, they just fit the settings well when I need to sink into "chill-out-mode". And are part of my playlist for meditation time outside of the game, when I need to breathe deep IRL.

[ManicManiac]

12 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

The ones I posted are ones that remind me of TLD, not ones that I listen to while playing it.

For certain  
There have only been a handful of times where I've had something playing in the background while I played the game... but when I did, they were always instrumentals that I felt where complimentary.

Edited July 7, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

Just now, ManicManiac said:

For certain  
There have only been a handful of times where I've had something playing in the background while I played this game... but when I did, it was always instrumentals that I felt where complimentary.

I used to listen to my on playlist, while playing the game. And kept missing audio  cues, and, subsequently dying, due to missing them. I decided to stop doing that.  Now I just die because of my own stupidly and greed.

[ManicManiac]

7 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I used to listen to my on playlist, while playing the game. And kept missing audio  cues, and, subsequently dying, due to missing them. I decided to stop doing that.

In general, I will have my sound settings configured to have the in game volume maxed while the music (in game or not) would be turned down to where I could still hear it... but all the other sounds in the world were much more pronounced (comparatively).

Edited July 7, 2019 by ManicManiac