To celebrate Quicksilver’s return we made playlists :)Listen to Hannibal’s playlist on S

To celebrate Quicksilver’s return we made playlists :)

Listen to Hannibal’s playlist on Spotify

Upcoming playlists are for Bev, the series overall, plus a drawing soundtrack from @theseavoices. Find Will’s playlist here.

Track list and sleevenotes under the read more link - you can also find this on AO3 along with the rest of Quicksilver.

Set myself a real challenge with this one - how to make a playlist to illustrate Hannibal without using classical music? Very difficult indeed but I didn’t feel qualified to go down the classical route and, anyway, other people have already done it brilliantly. So instead, whenever I came across something (anything) which I thought might work, I noted it down and over a few months (not even joking) whittled them down to arrange them into this playlist. Although this is technically a playlist for the version of Hannibal who exists in Quicksilver, I find listening to it really helps me get into canon!Hannibal’s head (and I do love being in his head - not sure what that says about me D:).

I doubt you’d find any of these tracks in Hannibal’s listening history (though I think there’s a couple he’d be intrigued by). Interestingly, lyrics are few and far between - that wasn’t deliberate but I think it helps provide some of that mystery which is so essential to keep in Hannibal’s character. We should never know too much about him - he can’t be explained, after all ;)

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The Dead Flag Blues ~ Godspeed You! Black Emperor

(Can’t believe I’m about to post a content warning for music but here I am doing it - if you’re not familiar with GY!BE you may not be expecting anything quite as bleak as this. It is ~bleak~, particularly at the beginning, and long at over 15 minutes. If you’re feeling anxious/fragile/depressed maybe listen later. But then again, maybe you’re one of those people who finds beauty and solace in bleakness no matter how you’re currently feeling, in which case crack on.)
I absolutely LOVE this track and in this playlist it represents Hannibal’s initial trip through the Inferno as child and into adulthood. There is a great meta discussion post on tumblr (I can’t remember who wrote it and neither can I find it, so if anyone knows the one I mean please let me know - it’s from years back) which describes this process and goes on to say that, when Hannibal finally came out the other side, he decided to go back round again but this time on his own terms, like Alice down the rabbit hole. It has a slow bluesy-waltzy-wooziness which over time becomes a dance, an embrace of darkness; and the surprise ending with the rather childlike and made-anew sparkling melody makes me think of I happened and the moment when Hannibal fully emerges, having gained control over his life and his story. (The spoken piece at the start could also describes Will’s canon experiences with Hannibal, ending in the fall.) Amazing, a perfect fit. *chef’s kiss* 

A Summer Long Since Passed ~ Virginia Astley
“The piano has the quality of a memory,” Hannibal said. With its schoolgirl-ish vocal and ringing church bells (which, if you went grew up in an English village a couple of decades ago, will probably provoke unbearable nostalgia - they always seemed to be ringing as we left school for the day), let’s just rename this track Mischa and move on. 

Birthday Song ~ The Fall
Mark E. Smith and Hannibal may not naturally seem to fit together but hear me out. This is an unusually romantic piece of poetry set to music - it’s melancholic and yearning, uneasily dreamy; it echoes with voices and thoughts. For ages I thought about writing a memory palace-set fic based on the lines I am / in the next room / with you / always (I still might), and that’s enough reason on its own for me to include it here.

Helix ~ Kelly Moran
Sounds like music from a deranged and beautiful clockwork machine which someone is improvising to electronically (the sound is actually made by a ‘prepared piano’ - Moran placed objects among the piano strings to create a muted, percussive sound and accompanied it with digitally processed sounds). It starts small and spirals into something huge and lush and impressive. Basically, for me, this track is the sound of Hannibal’s mind working. 

Remurdered ~ Mogwai
Gets Hannibal points for the title alone, but it’s the menacing sound this playlist was missing topped off with a baroque digital-harpsichord-esque crescendo.

White Rabbit ~ Jefferson Airplane
Aaaaaand we’ve circled right back around the beginning again. Prepare to re-enter the rabbit hole and see what awaits - Hannibal’s waiting to guide you, with a smile on his face and a Gladstone full of hallucinogenics. Feed your head, indeed.