ARTISTS SHARE COMFORT MUSIC
How do you feel after a long day of consuming news?
Informed? Maybe.
Drained, stressed, scared and angry? No doubt.
In our churning news cycle, with a pandemic, a recession, an election and unrest on the streets, it can be a little too much to handle.
About a year before things got this bad, Lukas Nelson offered this lyrical advice: “Turn off the news and build a garden / Just my neighborhood and me.”
While you’re doing it, you might play some of his or his dad Willie’s music.
A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story in April noted a 2019 review from Annual Research & Review in Biology that found performing and listening to music can have a significant impact on the immune system.
Andrew Levin, a neurologist at the University of Pittsburgh and trumpet player, said, “Certainly music has an impact on the brain, and anxiety and stress impact the immune system.”
While it might not cure the coronavirus, your favorite music is often a cure for a bad mood. We all have our go-to songs, whether it’s some chill, meditative stuff to relieve stress or something more up-tempo, even wild, to blow off steam. “Kick out the Jams!” says Pete Spynda.
In a recent piece for Psychology Today, Sandi Curtis, a music therapist, offers 10 suggestions, including creating playlists of songs that motivate you to start your morning or relax you at some point in the day; find times to shut out other distractions and listen deeply, taking in the lyrics; sing along (when and where appropriate); and find a music mantra, like India.Arie’s “I Am Light.”
My favorite escape from the modern world is a Yacht Rock playlist filled with Hall & Oates, Seals & Crofts, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Loggins & Messina … all those ampersand acts, plus Boz Scaggs, Bread, Michael McDonald-era Doobies and two-hit wonders Looking Glass, with the ultimate yacht-rock song: “Brandy.”
Jason Myers, who plays in the Pittsburgh metal band Icarus Witch, likes it, too, and even curated his own 100-song, seven-hour yacht rock playlist.
“Some headbanger I turned out to be,” he jokes.
But Myers, who works at home doing PR, has also thought out his use of music as an elixir more deeply than most.
“Although I often write and perform music that’s more aggressive, intense and lyrically adventurous,” he says, “when it comes to chilling I tend to spin songs without many complex lyrics, squealy guitar or heavy progressive beats as they pull me out of my focus.”
To start the day, he listens to traditional Indian, Tibetan or Native American flute playlists on Spotify.
“These simple, world-music melodies enhance early meditation and mindfulness and give me a proactive head start on keeping anxiety at bay before I even open my email or, worse, social media.”
“As midday progresses,” he says, “I’ll switch to a soundtrack that’s contemporary but unobtrusive like Hammock, Slow Meadow or sigur rós, to keep me inspired, alert, yet focused. When I’m at a point in the day where extreme focus isn’t required but I still want to keep the blood pressure down, I’ll fire up the record player and enjoy lowkey indie like The National, Bon Iver or Wild Nothing, something smokier like Lana Del Rey, jazzier like Miles, more loungey like Norah Jones, more soulful like Curtis Mayfield, shoegazier like Beach House and Widowspeak, or perhaps some classic Irie reggae/dub such as Israel Vibration.”
We asked some people from the Pittsburgh music scene for their input on this. Here’s what they had to say:
Chris Fafalios, Punchline: “If I’m feeling anger stress, I go for a ride and listen to the Deftones ‘Around the Fur’ album. For the more sad type of stress that has gone along with the pandemic, I like to listen to relatable music that chills me out ... lately, it has been albums like King Princess’ ‘Cheap Queen,’ Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Punisher’ and Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde.’ Music is the ultimate stress reliever, and I listen to it 24 hours a day. (I even keep it going while I sleep.)”
Kiki Brown, The Buckle Downs: “My go-to music is that good “house-cleaning” music, the stuff you put on in a Saturday morning and clean the whole house to. That Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Earth, Wind and Fire goodness that just moves you so good you start
dancing with the broom. There’s nothing better!”
Brian Howe, Sikes and the New Violence, Greywalker, “Start the Beat” podcast: “A fair majority of my stress actually comes from music-related ‘situations,’ and in full transparency, the last thing I want to do in those situations is listen to more music! I’ll usually work on a drawing, clean the house or find anything I can just to give my ears and brain rest. However, stress
does come in different forms, and whenever life throws a punch that isn’t music-related I’ll probably just throw on something really loud, dumb and fun with a killer groove. It could be anything from Betty Davis to Meshuggah. I’ll lean into anything just that makes me feel good in the moment. Sometimes it’s music, and other times it’s silence. To be completely honest, I’m probably only a couple years away from finally understanding Enya, so we’ll just have to wait and see how the rest of my 30s treat me.”
Addi Twigg, The Telephone Line: “I find myself gravitating toward a couple things lately when I need to chill out. If my husband is around, we throw on some yacht rock. But if it’s just me, I shuffle a Summer Nights playlist I started a couple years ago. It’s a vibe for humid Pittsburgh nights, sitting on the porch letting the day evaporate off of you: Prince, Van Morrison, ABBA, Lizzo ... something for everyone. The current highlight is ‘Nothing Without You’ by Tanerélle. Listen through to the end, and it’ll soothe you right into oblivion.”
Jordan Montgomery, rapper: “There is a Soul Classics on Tidal that I like listening to that puts me in a good mood. It reminds me of the songs my grandma used to play when she used to watch my sister and I — Stevie Wonder and Nat King Cole, specifically. Definitely puts me a good mood. Especially on a Sunday afternoon drive.”
Ryan Haynes, DJ Afterthought: “Khruangbin, George Benson, Caamp are my goto’s. All three of those bands to me are quite different, but the feeling is the same. I feel like they all have a sense of relaxation mixed in with instrumentation and meaningful lyrics. I go through a lot of different music during different time periods of my life, but for relaxation purposes at least at this point those three have been doing the trick. Just allows me to kind of escape from the norm, especially in these times when everything you see is negative for the most part. I like to listen to music that speaks to me and allows me to get away from all of that. There are probably 100 other bands or groups or artists that I could name as well, but those are definitely constants in the mix.”
Sierra Sellers, singer-songwriter: “My real answer is not music. I have a difficult time falling asleep, but I’ve found if I listen to the Harry Potter audiobooks I feel more relaxed and fall asleep within minutes. Sometimes music stimulates my mind and creativity too much. If, however, I want to unwind and be present in music. By present I mean listen and sing along. I will throw on some Erykah Badu or Jill Scott.”
Pete Spynda, Pandemic, Pittonkatonk: “That’s kinda a tricky question. For me people would normally expect some world music, but when I get stressed I like to listen to The MC5. There is something about ‘Kick Out the Jams’ that cuts deep through the stress and those locking grooves and howling lyrics that relaxes me.”
Lauren DeMichiei, singer-songwriter: “I go to Daniel Lanois’ ‘Goodbye to Language’ or the French composer Erik Satie. They are both calming composers ... and I feel at ease listening to these works.”
Donny Donovan, Hearken, Dinosoul:
“With all the events going on and my business being affected directly (personal training studio), I actually haven’t really changed anything about the way I listen to music. I’m still following the same artists and listening to their new releases, including Juice WRLD, The Weeknd, J cole, Oliver Tree, The Wallows, and girl in red! I’ve also found some pretty awesome musicians on Spotify’s pride list, including Dua Selah and Syd in June. I have, however, blasted Rage Against the Machine during most of my workouts for stress relief. Why? It just feels good to throw some weight around with those riffs. Finally, I do occasionally listen to chakra balancing music and or Binaural Beats to easy my mind. Oh and also Tycho has been a nice listen in the background during my day.”
Michael Canton, “The Soul Show” on WYEP-FM: “Three tracks have been my goto stress relievers for most of a lifetime: Grover Washington Jr.’s ‘Love Makes It Better’ for its joy, Santana’s ‘Everything Is Coming Our Way’ for its hopefulness, and Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)’ for its dreaminess.”
Sam Matthews, Ancient Skvlls, Pittsburgh Guitars: “I don’t know what I’d say I listen to to relax. I’ve been listening to live Dead shows quite a bit. One thing I keep coming back to over the last month is the new Boris recording called ‘NO.’ It’s a bandcamp-only thing. It’s loud kind of punk and hardcore and crust. Actually I’m the most relaxed when I play my bass. I do that with coffee every morning. Something about figuring out a song or playing scales, working on technique, does that for me.”
Lucy Clabby, Buffalo Rose: “My go-to comfort music will always be Andrew Bird, usually his album ‘Armchair Apocrypha.’ More recently, I’ve discovered the healing powers of Raveena and her lovely voice. And on vinyl I have Etta James, Louis Armstrong and The Supremes to cheer me up after a long day.”
Bob Banerjee, Corned Beef and Curry: “My go-to is generally ’60s and ’70s melodic rock: Beatles, Stones, CCR. To wake myself up it’s always Doobie Brothers, and when I’m cooking in the kitchen (for one!) I’ve got on Coldplay, Elton John, Jim Croce and my guilty pleasure: ’80s pop. I really AM the universal channel changer! Oh yeah, add Celtic rock into the weekend playlist! I think going back some decades provides escape from current times and current rock and pop.”