you can’t kickstart a dead horse
you just cross yourself and walk away
i don’t care what the future holds
’cause i’m right here and i’m today

Thom Yorke, Black Swan

The more I read Clarke and the more I listen to Thom Yorke, the more parallels I am able to draw. Even by simply looking at the cover of the album. On the cover, we see a gentleman in a black coat and a black top hat, who stretches his arm and commands something: either flames of fire, or ocean waves, or both. And we see heavy clouds and rain, gathering above the gentleman. This could actually be an illustration to the book, perhaps a bit abstract, but a very good illustration nevertheless. Then, consider the general tone of the album. Mysterious, dark, sublime, beautiful. Melancholic, foggy, English to the core. Magical. Elaborate. So is the book. Even the language; simple and compelling. Consider the album’s lyrics: The more you try to erase me, the more, the more, the more that I appear. The more, the more. The more you try the eraser, the more, the more, the more that you appear. Something along these lines. I don’t know exactly  why, but it reminds me of the novel very much. Even a dead horse referred to in the lyrics is there, in the novel. A snow-white dead horse, and a black raven on it.

I actually fancy very well how the novel could be adapted for the screen. I think, the 2007-released English album would sound as an excellent soundtrack for a novel describing English magic of the 19th century. Well, at least it’s my fantasies.

But: anyway, one shouldn’t listen to this album too much, if one is impressionable. It results in anxiety.