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January 24, 2020
Peter Stamm's Playlist for His Novel "The Sweet Indifference of the World"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Peter Stamm's latest novel The Sweet Indifference of the World is a riveting and surprising exploration of memory and identity.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote of the book:
"An entrancing tale about a writer haunted by his past self…[Stamm’s] stripped-down, pared-back prose still works wonders, exploring complex issues and probing singular minds in a thoroughly compelling way."
In his own words, here is Peter Stamm's Book Notes music playlist for his novel The Sweet Indifference of the World:
One of the reasons I wrote about a doppelganger in my last novel was because of an encounter with Odine Johne, the actress who played the role of Agnes in a film made after my first novel of the same name. Meeting her was like meeting a doppelganger of my own character: she was and at the same time was not my creature. I met her in Stockholm, and we walked and talked for a long time as Lena and Christoph do in The Sweet Indifference of the World. Odine has, just for the fun of it, recorded a song that she wrote herself, a charming little piece that she published on Youtube and that I want to share with you.
Anna Ternheim
I’ll Follow You Tonight
The music for the film Agnes was composed and sung by the Swedish singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim, whom I had not known before. As far as I know, she has not published the film music yet, but this older song of her sounds pretty much like her movie soundtrack, light and at the same time melancholic.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fugue in G minor BWV 578
The structure of The Sweet Indifference of the World is quite complicated with its two doppelganger-couples that live the same life sixteen years apart, with lots of flashbacks and repetitions and variations. When I was thinking about what music I should listen to while writing it, I immediately thought of Bach fugues, which are at the same time structurally complicated and a great aesthetic pleasure. I don’t know if the music had an effect on the book, but it certainly was a pleasure to listen to it.
Gavin Bryars
The Sinking of the Titanic
I also listened to a lot of jazz and contemporary music, while writing and revising. One piece I often come back to is this very calm, hypnotic piece by Gavin Bryars, that is more a kind of soundscape but still tells a story. And it much better captures the sinking of the Titanic than the horrible movie and the heart that will go on and on and on.
Paul Giger
Alpstein
When I’m writing, I like atmospheric music and the choice of music can put me into a desired mood. This CD has music that fits well to the Scandinavian landscapes. It contains a mix of jazz and traditional music from Appenzell (the last place in Switzerland that gave women the right to vote in 1990). Don’t be put off by the terrible esoteric cover of the CD, the content is much better than the graphic design suggests.
Dino Saluzzi
Andina
I have a playlist that is named “Working music”. Whenever I can’t think of specific music to listen to, I play it. It contains tons of Keith Jarrett but also some music by the Argentinian bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi. I started dancing tango some years ago (with mixed results), but these tangos are made to listen rather than to dance to.
Bagad Kemper
Breiz
Some years ago, I participated in a festival in the beautiful town of Lausanne in the French speaking part of Switzerland. I was sitting with a few other artists in the artists’ tent when a group of bagpipe players came in. When I realized that they intended to play, my first reaction was to run away, as usually I can’t stand the amazing grace of this instrument. But what this group from Brittany played more or less knocked me out. Often six or eight instruments were playing the same theme, which gave the music a physical strength that one could feel in one’s whole body. It wasn’t just loud, it was all around and inside of you. A recording – unfortunately – can’t reproduce this impressive performance.
Sounds of the Sea
Sometimes I can’t stand any music anymore but still want some background noise to distract my ears. Some years ago I bought a CD with sounds of the sea, waves braking, which has a calming effect and distracts me from other noises especially people talking on a train. I have also sometimes listened to rainfall, also on CD. It might sound a bit strange, but if it helps, it helps.
John Cage
4’ 33”
As much as I like music and as often as I listen to it, it hardly appears in my books. My characters don’t seem to listen to music, many of them also don’t read. In a few of my novels and short stories, people don’t have books or give their books and CDs away – one character even burns his whole library. John Cage’s piece probably catches their infatuation with music best, by simply making us listen to silence or rather the music of the sounds that are around us.
Rage Against the Machine
Killing in the Name
Mayte Martín
Por la Mar Chica del Puerto
My editor and a friend of his eventually work as DJs in their free time. Once or twice a year they invite me to help them. They choose the music (mostly punk and indie) and I do the mixing. During the Frankfurt Book Fair we did it at the Open Book Party at the Literaturhaus, usually from 1 AM to 4 AM in the morning. At the beginning we always play Rage Against the Machine and we finish with a song that I have become completely addicted to. You have to imagine an almost empty room at four in the morning, some last couples dancing, some kissing in a corner, some drunks who missed finding someone to go home with. The bright lights are turned on, empty glasses and bottles stand around, the cleaning people come in and start doing their job. We leave the Literaturhaus, stand on the stairs outside, smoke a cigarette and drink a last beer to the sound of Mayte Martin.
Peter Stamm and v links:
the author's website
the author's Wikipedia entry
excerpt from the book
excerpt from the book
Foreword Reviews review
The Literary Review review
Minneapolis Star Tribune review
Publishers Weekly review
Slant review
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for To the Back of Beyond
also at Largehearted Boy:
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Book Notes (2015 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
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Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
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Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
weekly music release lists
