Waking up the other day to the living air so starkly contrasting months of frigid stillness, I felt this new sense of inspiration met with a calm feeling of control on the whirlwind that has been my life. The cold dark of winter is well known to bring about some level of depression in many, but these past warm and sunny days have further proven that fact. I’ve become more prone to daydream about abstract concepts as I drift calmly from place to place without a true feeling of needing to be anywhere in any hurry. I just float on, letting my music keep my feet going and the wind tell them where to go. Naturally, this has led to some serious procrastination of which I am by no means proud.

It started with Tomorrow Comes Today by Gorillaz.

I’m not really a fan of rap music. I could handle it in a few Linkin Park songs when I was a fan years ago, but it never called to me or kept me listening. However Gorillaz’ song Feel Good Inc. was the first one where I even somewhat liked the rapping portions. So I headed straight to Spotify and found their self titled album Gorillaz. I was absolutely blown away by the slow and lethargic vocals of 2-D. The overall tone of songs like Man Research perfectly mirrored how I’d been feeling up until yesterday and today; tired and out of it.

Then came Tiny Cities Made of Ashes by Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands right now. I simply love the unique vocals in songs like this. The song is frantic and paranoid, but simultaneously smooth and wavelike. It’s good for caffeine and for chamomile. I followed it up with The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box. The imagery in these lyrics does absolutely nothing to quell a wandering mind. Set to the beat and with singer Isaac Brock’s wonderful voice kept me entranced throughout the entire song. I probably looked funny, dumbly bobbing my head and walking purposefully to absolutely nowhere in particular, but the experience made my whole day. So I consider it a win.

Some time later I moved to good old Yawning Man’s album Vista Point.

Since I found their song Manolete, I’ve explored the Desert Rock group pretty extensively and found my absolute favorite song to be Airport Boulevard. This and most songs on the album create a simply perfect soundtrack to a waning sunset. Walking around the Arboretum as the light slowly died with She Scares Me welcoming the scattered stars from obscurity was unreal. I felt this amazing peace as though I’d reached the end of some great journey decades in the making. I admittedly nearly shed a tear over it. It may sound odd, but I kind of felt older. Music does this to me, especially on days like this.