Okay, I made a Spotify playlist (actually two--one for each side). Inspired by @dalek-in-heels and reading Wow, No Thank You and the need for activities that can be done with a half a brain but take up enough brain space to prevent doomscrolling or analog anxiety (see: crosswords, puzzles, coloring, many versions of Solitaire).
This mixtape is blend of perennial favorites and songs stumbled upon during this pandemic that became an elixir for the long days. They have been the accompaniment to morning runs in the middle of empty streets, periods of staring out the window at tree branches and my wealthy neighbor’s backyard oases, and making dinner for the umpteenth time. And it all brought me here, out of a lurk for a moment or perhaps to start a new habit of blogging.
See below for tracklist, song length (each side is just about 30 minutes to stay true to form), and a lyric I might have scribbled on the cover of a notebook in high school.
Side A
Immaterial - Sophie (3:52) Tell me, where do I exist?
Fool - Perfume Genius (3:55) I congratulate you, then I leave the room
Yeah Right - Joji (2:54) Yeah you dance so good and I think that’s kinda neat
All Over - Tiwa Savage (3:31) And it’s killing them all of course
Blind - Hercules & Love Affair (5:45) As a child I knew that the stars could only get brighter
Tell Them (3:28) - James Blake ft. Moses Sumney and Metro Boomin You can’t return the sacred time you steal
Pride - Kendrick Lamar (4:35) In another life I surely was there
Side B
Scenes from Bensonhurst - Eleanor Friedburger (4:33) I lay in bed and tempt myself with my screen, my screen, my screen
Lilacs - Waxahatchee (3:15) If I’m a broken record write it in the dust, babe
Movies - Weyes Blood (5:53) Some people watch until they explode
...And the Rain (2:46) - John Maus Somebody just tell me the truth
Better Than Me - Blood Orange ft. Carly Rae Jepsen (3:16) Ninety-nine percent, I know you’re not fine
I Found a Reason - The Velvet Underground (4:15) Oh I do believe you are what you perceive
Some Dream - Perfume Genius (4:18) All this for a song?
