Looking for witchy, gothic, mischievous, or devilish songs for my DND character
They're a fey witch who changes how they look to manipulate and prank and befuddle and seduce others. Their magic is dark, illusory, spooky, and nature based.
Some thoughts:
I Want To Be Evil - Eartha Kitt
Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets) - Sarah Vaughan
Trust In Me (Kaa's song from The Jungle Book)
Curveballs welcome, no wrong answers
Have you ever seen that meme where people write increasingly eldritch lyrics to Jolene?
Someone recorded a version like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj_Q6VhX6l8
Perfection
The shot when they come downstairs is a tad ruined by a rockstar drum pad lol.
Check out The Bridge City Sinners
Very cool female led band. Numerous witchy vibe type songs.
Edit
https://youtu.be/ldbA86MZIJ0
https://youtu.be/_tCvb39Lt7k
The game soundtracks of Hades and Hades 2 maybe?
Edit: sorry many of them don't have lyrics if that's what you are looking for, but there are a few bangers with lyrics too.
Oooh I'm yet to play I'll give them a spin
Hope you found what you were looking for :)
Heuse & Anica: Going Insane
Kuoga: Coquette
Rok Nardin: Her Gaze
Sevdaliza: Soul Syncable
Mmmm murky and moody and dangerous and playful, well done
Hmm... I am a fan of this aesthetic so...
Hard to beat Darkher for dark and witchy. Incredible music in its own right as well.
But also...
Eivor Pålsdottir
Nyghtegale from the Green Knight
Amira Elfeky
Jolene via Joliet
Halfsleeper
Bulgarian choral music
Rïcïnn
Hetane
Linea Aspera
Lindy Fay Hella is hella fey. (Sorry)
Lamb has something to them that feels right too.
Kati Ran of course.
Noeta
The Negative Harmony cover of Maneater though lots of negative harmony covers could angle toward that uncanny valley feeling of illusionists.
Something in the Dark
Cloak of Feathers for something more metalic
Alice Francis if she's a bit cocky
Kovacs has a touch of spooky in her jazzy
Not sure what theme, style, or use you're looking for. I don't have suggestions that would hit in a fun powerful way like the soundtrack to American Horror Story: Coven (but I guess that playlist is a recommendation). I'm into metal and I'm imagining higher feminine vocals that may not be entirely understandable, so that's what I have. Generally, the top tracks on Spotify are representative of the sound I associate with each.
Chelsea Wolfe comes to mind first. She drifts between metal and folk (sort of?), but the lyrical content is largely consistent. Hiss Spun (2017) is the album I like most, followed by She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She (2024) if the other is too metal. She also put some work into the X/MaXine/?? horror movie trilogy score with Tyler Bates
I lied, some more upbeat bands would be Cellar Darling (hard rock, fantasy themes,
cellohurdy-gurdy solos) or Castle Rat (if you needed Iron Maiden to beseige a castle).Not exactly jams or bangers, but my autumn work/build grind playlist consisted of Heriot, Faetooth, Author & Punisher, Conjurer, and King Yosef. This is some heavy background score material to give me that fay metal mood without too much focus on the music itself. They're what built my 7ft tall deer reaper for Halloween. Discovered this genre(?) from a goth burlesque/freak show performance.
Espers - Dead Queen
Caitlin Myers - Ghosting You
Beats Antique - Beauty Beats
Ghost Data - The Sheppardess
Pendragon - Morgana
Gawr Gura - Ash Again
Derivakat - Revived
For something without many vocals and just atmosphere try Heilung. All of their music feels like you are in a ritual or summoning.
I was gonna recommend Othan by Heilung, it sounds like casting a spell.
Checkout the new Florence + The Machine album 'Everybody Scream' https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSSxZ58hOAnBdVziONxCeCej570TLDPgR
Oh my days, I downloaded it and immediately forgot. Good shout
hmmmm if you want historical-inspired stuff, try Katharine Blake's projects, e.g.
as well as
If you want stuff your character can sing, there's always the traditional song:
here's a bunch of modern stuff that oughta put you in the mood:
check out ![email protected] for more fun!
I love Robert Johnson's "me and the devil", it ends with that devilish sentence :
I put a spell on you by Nina Simone maybe?
Oh honey you can do way better
KiNG MALA's last album especially is some real vibey heresy, start there
Portishead, obviously, deserves a mention too
If you don't need lyrics, try tabletoprpgmusic.com.
I filtered by "fantasy", "forest", and "mystery" and got The Feywild Manor, which sounds like a decent match to your descriptors.
"Cloak of Feathers" by The Sword https://youtu.be/AlCJ1BsfMWc
"of owl and of raven, of peacock and dove, of swan and of sparrow, woven with her love. face hidden in shadow, beneath a hood of quills, the pinions of her raiment conceal all her ills."
Ludo - Horror of Our Love
https://share.google/23N1ieiuI2etBSsUs
There are dozens of us!
Anything by CLANN
New to me, thanks
Diamanda Galás
Making the Devil shit himself.
Slaughterhouse - Harpy
Honestly most of her work is perfect for this.
See I was also going to suggest Harpy but it felt strangely on the nose for me.
https://witchbottle.bandcamp.com/
Chinese Burn by Curve This one has big chaos pixie energy.
Notable lyrics: She burns friends like a piece of wood, she's jealous of me because she never could, holds herself up without a spine...
.
Temple of Love by The Sisters Of Mercy
Classic trad goth with a drum machine and operatic drama.
Notable lyrics: Fucking all of them man, Som songs are pure poetry. There's lots of elemental references here and it hints at a much more epic love story and fantasy setting too.
.
Happy House by Siouxsie And The Banshees
Big chaos energy again, but with much more sinister discordance this time.
Notable lyrics: We're all happy here, in the happy house.... The whole song is creepy fey realm shiz, seriously just read it
.
Et Moi by Nym
This is a mostly electronic instrumental track, with a hypnotic rolling beat that's kinda haunting and catchy at the same time.
Like with name of the song and name of the band, the actual song here is also in French, but it all translates to big fey vibes imo. Lots of similar themes to the songs above too but from a different, more melancholic prespective. Link to translated lyrics here
Good luck with your character!
(Edited as I fucked up the formatting originally)
love these, especially Siouxsie. I had added a later song and forgot about this one entirely.
this Nym track is an inspired addition, you nailed the vibe
You going to post the playlist once it's done?
Gather Up - Matt Berry
It's on the playlist, it's so hypnotic
Mordred’s Lullaby, by Heather Dale might be a pretty good choice. It’s creepy, although creepy in the abusive narcissist way, so I don’t know if that’ll be your jam.
Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine is a fun one :)
Secrets by the Pierces.
"Do you swear on your life?"
For some reason I didn't read the title from left to right, I read random words first. The first word i read was D&D, but I misread it.
I was trying to figure out what exactly a witchy gothic DNS was, and how I could get one too.
Jenny Lewis — "Head Underwater"
T. Rex — "Ride a White Swan"
Voodoo Lady, Ween
Check out Twin Temple, satanic female fronted doo wop, also Harley Poe, and Amigo the Devil, and Ghost
Neither Neigsendoig (my producer) or I have anything in mind for that. I'll need to take a look and see if that's possible.
Maybe take a look at Am I Evil by Diamond Head for a recommendation outside of myself or Neigsendoig.
https://youtu.be/Z8sfw7nprCQ
Savage Daughter by Sarah Hester Ross comes to mind
Danzig - Lilin
Piratess by Okkervil River
Here is a short list of fun songs that hit that vibe. I could probably make this list 3 hrs long ha ha.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3eqX37YUTbGGRrp6tz6idt?pi=J-2HuEoDQfKrT
Appreciate it, I'll listen tomorrow
The Devil Within - Digital Daggers, piano version.
Season of the Witch by Donovan. Lana Del Rey has a remake but I prefer the original.
one more cup of coffee - Bob Dylan
https://youtu.be/zul4Ln-0md0
Ribbons by Sisters Of Mercy
It reminds me of the type of song that would play over a scene where someone is on their way to do something incredibly violent.
“I tried to tell her, about Marx and Engles, god and angles-
I don’t really know what for…
but she looked good in ribbons.”
The Evil Eye - Joe Jackson Whistling Passed The Graveyard - Tom Waits There's a Moon over Bourbon Street - Sting
You can't get more witchy and gothic than Inkubus Sukkubus. Maybe Heart of Lilith? It's not their most catchy song. Pagan Born is nice. Alternatives: Midnight Queen, Vampyre Erotica, or Aradia.
For something OG (Original Goth) maybe Spellbound by Siouxsie And The Banshees.
Witches Burn - The Pretty Reckless Sanctify Me - In this Moment
Witch Doctor - De Staat
https://youtu.be/0ttGgIQpAUc
For a summoner or necromancer, this could be fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3BtkVV6v90
The hacker - flesh and bone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQiUFZ5RDw
Curveball incoming Yello - Angel No
Devon Cole - W.I.T.C.H https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcLy05ywVM8
There are some AI music generators out there with free tiers, Suno or Udio or Minimax come to mind, you could try those out. I use AI-generated music frequently in my tabletop roleplaying games, both as DM and as a player, it's nice to be able to whip up stuff with completely custom lyrics to fit any situation.