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February 10, 2022
Sarah Blake's Playlist for Her Novel "Clean Air"
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, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Sarah Blake's Clean Air is both a compelling apocalyptic novel and literary thriller.
Booklist wrote of the book:
"[An] engrossing and suspenseful tale that simultaneously delivers a lyrical homage to motherhood and a piercing vision of the fragility of humankind’s relationship with the natural world."
In her own words, here is Sarah Blake's Book Notes music playlist for her novel Clean Air:
I wrote Clean Air at Green Engine, a coffee shop in Haverford, PA. Mostly, I don’t remember the music they had on. I tuned it all out. I just like noise and people, movement and light. They even have a wall of plants, which is funny considering the book is about a world that’s been so overwhelmed with pollen that the air is toxic.
So for this playlist, I didn’t think about a soundtrack for my process as much as a playlist that’s thoroughly inspired by the book. I thought about the trees, Izabel (the main character), and the killer. I thought about what it must have been like when the trees turned and what it’s like for Izabel now, ten years after the Turning.
The resulting playlist is a fun, weird mix of songs about trees, killers, and obsession.
“Disorder” by Joy Division
This song fits for two reasons for me. Disorder is the first word I think of when I think about dystopia—along with words like chaos and riots. But these lyrics specifically keep bringing up “the spirit,” and that makes me think of the resulting communities in Clean Air, how they moved away from organized religion, in favor of a kind of spirituality. It sets the right tone for what’s to come, which is a story rooted in the near-magical way we are connected to the world.
“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell
The most striking part of Clean Air might be the setting, the town of airtight domes. And as safe as the domes keep people regarding the air, they are quite eerie, and their walls are exceedingly thin. “Somebody’s Watching Me” is exactly how Izabel feels sometimes.
“You’ll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties” by Jona Lewie
This song reminds me of a scene that comes much later in the book, so don’t read this description if you don’t want to read a spoiler! But if you’re okay with spoilers… At one point, Izabel is waiting in her kitchen as bait for the killer. It’s a scene that I loved writing, with her having a couple of beers sitting on her kitchen floor.
“Toxicity” by System of a Down
The word toxicity speaks to the book all on its own, but I was drawn to this song for how it uses the word disorder. Unlike Joy Division’s “Disorder,” this song screams it: “Disorder! Disorder!” It’s been one of my favorite songs since college.
“In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins
Okay, this is for silliness, of course. This song is clearly not about what is literally in the air, but it makes me laugh when I hear the first line, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight,oh Lord,” and I imagine that he’s referring to the pollen in the air. (It’s also a song that reminds me of driving around with my Dad with Philly’s WMMR on.)
“I Don’t Like You Anymore” by The Last Shadow Puppets
A major part of the book is Izabel considering the ways she does and doesn’t identify with the killer. This is a song that reminds me of feelings that both characters are having, and are having to deal with.
“Sir Psycho Sexy” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Izabel is, in some ways, attracted to the killer, and this song is about the appeal of “a psycho.” Why do we read books about killers? Why do we watch so many fictional shows about killers? Why do we watch the documentaries? Listen to the podcasts? What are we trying to understand? And can we call that appealing, attractive, sexy? Doesn’t one word lead to the next?
“Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads
Obviously, I had to include “Psycho Killer” in a playlist about Clean Air. But my favorite part of “Psycho Killer” is when he sings, “I hate people when they’re not polite.” This seems like the kind of aside that Izabel would get caught up in as she was trying to address a more important point.
“Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads
And I had to include “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads because Izabel is constantly looking around at her life and wondering, “How did I get here?” And she’s having this restless feeling that, as good as her life is, it’s the “same as it ever was.”
“The Trees” by Pulp
I love “Common People” by Pulp, but I’d never heard this song before. Now it’s one of my favorites. If you listen to no other song on this playlist, listen to this one! “Yeah, the trees, those useless trees produce the air that I am breathing.”
“Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead
This was the first song that I thought of with the word trees in it, but the song is actually more fitting for this playlist for how it repeats, over and over, “it wears me out,” which is such an Izabel vibe.
“One Way or Another” by Blondie
I laugh every time Blondie’s “One Way or Another” comes on when I’m listening to this playlist, because I think of it in terms of Izabel trying to find the killer.
“Outta My Mind” by The Arcs
One of the things that I love about this playlist is that it can be listened to in order or on shuffle. But, in order, this song is very intentionally near the end of the playlist. “Outta my mind / but I made it,” is how I see Izabel towards the end of the book. (Though, thinking about it now, it’s how she thinks about herself very early on in the book, with regard to the Turning.)
“Cleaner Air” by Yeek
I searched for “Clean Air” on Spotify and was shocked to find this song, not only because he says “probably breathing cleaner air,” but also because I like it! I couldn’t not include it and deny the serendipity!
Sarah Blake's novel Naamah won the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Blake is also the author of the poetry collections Mr. West and Let's Not Live on Earth. In 2013, she was awarded a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently lives in the UK.
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