Hiiii July :) thank you for playing along with my bullshit <3here are the General Vibes ones and then I have included two source material examples this time as well because I am ill about them. As always I am grateful for whatever recs you have regardless of if they end up working or not :)
rex i will always and forever want to play along with your bullshit <333
this one was a tough one actually!! it's hard to find songs about loss and duty and self-sacrifice and protection that are not also romantic (which i get the sense that this moodboard is not at all intended to be) but! we persevere
the first song that i immediately thought of was devereaux by car seat headrest! i love csh a lot but i haven't had the chance to fully sit down and listen all the way through their latest album, the scholars. however i did listen to devereaux bc a friend of mine recommended it and it does in fact slap. the scholars is a rock opera type thing and i believe that the character of devereaux is like a child of very conservative religious parents who's working through their trauma while at college. but also as previously stated i haven't listened to the whole album so take that w a grain of salt! anyways i put this one on the playlist bc of the lyrics "i never questioned / the call of the father to his next of kin / pull me out of the fire, tell me you love me, and throw me back in" but also bc of the lyrics "i wasn't born to be this, i was born to fight dragons" but also bc of the lyrics "devereaux / i always heard as my own dad's name / the first time i saw you take it i cried"
speaking of csh. once i added devereaux i also started thinking about the singles off that album, but specifically ccf (i'm gonna stay with you)! another banger song, although it's less on topic than devereaux. added bc of the lyrics "there was a line my idols crossed that i could not cross / on the other side is love and right here is loss" and also just the general vibe of loyalty and the repeated "i'm gonna stay with you". also that one line about selling your soul to feed your family.
rex i don't remember if you're a crane wives enjoyer but if you aren't you should be! i have a couple of their songs on here but the one that fits the best imo is canary in a coal mine. as you'd probably expect from the title it's less of a 'sword & shield' kind of protection and more of a 'sentinel/sacrifice' kind of protection but i still like it. added because of "am i the only thing that keeps you safe when the light is gone" and "i'll sing you songs until the darkness does recede / but if in the end i lose my voice / will you forget about your love for me?"
next up: brand new colony! this one was originally written by the postal service, which is a great band, but i'm partial to the cover by the beths and pickle darling. this one very much plays into the duty and care vibes of the moodboard and less so to the abandonment and grief, and also is very much romantic but if you ignore all that it fits okay?
if the band all the luck in the world has one fan that fan is me. if they have no fans i am dead. god i love them so much and it is criminal how (relatively) unknown they are. like to me they are equivalent to hozier. anyways back on topic their song dark eyes off their first album is not one of my favorite songs of theirs but that's only because so many of their songs are incredible. if another band had made it it would be easily my favorite. lots of family angst vibes but it's mostly on here for the "stand by, your glass is steady" outro verse. very much a 'grief is all i have left of you' moment
next song is the mortal boy king by the paper kites which i will admit i added mostly because of the title. i just love everything about that phrase. like the contradictions of mortal and boy and king ough i love it. but also the lyrics of the song are a little relevant: "maybe if i hold you now / would you hold me now?" just seems to me to be very like. father/hero worship and desperation for care in return
obviously you know this one, but i feel like welly boots by the amazing devil also fits? like there's that whole thing about grief and thunder and then the protective vibe of the narrator? i know ideally it would be the same character who has all the duty and the grief and the worship and the sacrifice but idk i think there's something there regardless
holy shrine by big crick is a song that i found almost completely by chance. i was scrolling youtube and there was this clip from a playthrough of an indie horror game called we harvest shadows. and i'm not a horror person usually, esp not that genre of horror. but i watched the video on a whim and there was this song in it and. wow. it's gorgeous and haunting and i love it. the repeated "i am fine" at the end like the narrator is trying and failing to convince themselves? ughh it's so good. anyways definitely leaning too hard into the grief part of the moodboard on this one but i like it a lot so i'm keeping it
last real song is ragged wood - transition basement sketch by the fleet foxes. specifically the basement sketch version not the album version. idk i just like the sense of loyalty ("call me back to you") and the willingness to be hurt in pursuit of it (tell me anything you want / any old lie will do").
okay these next few are more of a stretch but i wanted to add them regardless bc they're all great songs! you don't have to listen to them if you don't want to
- barefoot kid by the arcadian wild, for the lyrics "let down by the hand that was meant to be good / i never noticed mine were dirty too"
- killing season by all the luck in the world for the lyrics "you caught a lion's heart, held it in your arms". also i feel like this would be a song sung for the hypothetical person this moodboard is about, later on once they've done some healing
- home to me by devil and the deep blue sea (another incredibly underrated band), for the lyrics "a voice like your father's tells you nothing good's for free / well that may be, but you're walking home to me"
- never love an anchor by the crane wives. again i feel like this is sung about/to the person, maybe from the person they idolize. definitely a stretch but who cares
- lastly: salt and the sea. both the version by the lumineers and the version by gregory alan isakov are good, i listen to them interchangeably. it all depends on the vibe you want! (personally i'd go for the lumineers version based on the tempo/mood of the rest of the songs but really it could go either way). lots and lots of pained loyalty in this one, and no romance which is a plus! no lyrics to highlight on this one, you just sort of have to listen to it all.
WHEW okay i'm done! congrats on powering through my wall of text lol i know it's a Lot
as always disclaimer that i'm not sure if any of these fit the way you want but i can guarantee that they're good songs regardless!