Isolation has me on the ropes. Gloved fists of loneliness are pounding my face in, knocking my teeth loose and rearranging my features.
A few days ago I sat around and thought for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes of uninterrupted thinking. I hated it.
I’ve been nostalgic for normalcy, spending too much time ruminating on the mundane, ascribing significance to the most usual activities: going to the store, watching movies with friends or sitting in a booth at a restaurant.
Faces on my laptop screen crackle like forgotten bonfires from hazy summer nights. Voices lurch through speakers, rising and falling like a heaving chest after a 20-mile run. Everything feels off. Zoom conferences probably don’t look like this to a lot of people, though. I spilled milk all over my MacBook like a year ago.
The world is weightless. I’m existing in a vacuum, floating amongst massive clumps of dust and the brutalized remains of bags of Cheetos.
Music makes everything not feel so grim, though. Songs move the hours along, thrusting me forward into a new day of staring at the ceiling or doing the bare minimum in my classes.
So, if you’re desperate for something to fill the time or the empty spaces in your apartment, here are some songs for this prolonged period of lunacy:
‘Around the Sun’ by Remo Drive
“What’s the date? I can’t remember,” singer Erik Paulson laments with a shrill falsetto. “Around the Sun” is all about the monotony of everyday life. Our routines are loops, revolving doors to the same places and same faces. My routine is even more defined now that it only consists of three or four things.
‘cold weather’ by glass beach
“cold weather” is a love song that breaks the mold entirely. It’s bold and brash, opening with a barrage of gang vocals. A ska-esque, walking bassline bounces around the verses before guitars launch into the breakneck chorus. Ultimately, I see this song as a love letter to my friends. “I didn’t miss Orange County,” frontperson J. McClendon sings. “I just missed you.” I miss Bloomington, but, ultimately, I just miss my friends.
‘Inside my House; Some Place I Keep Dreaming About’ by Ricky Eat Acid
I’m not a huge fan of ambient music, but I can’t deny the beauty of this song. It’s so atmospheric. It carries me to another dimension, a kind place where everything is bathed in sunlight. Everything is safe and certain. It’s a lush, necessary antidote for the increasingly rough days.
‘Pop Style’ by Drake
“Got so many chains, they call me Chaining Tatum.” This line alone sends me down a rabbit hole of hypothetical situations. Did Drake write this line? Did his alleged ghostwriter come up with this heat? Were people really calling Drake Chaining Tatum in 2016? I really do love this song, but it makes the playlist simply because it’s good for a 45-minute thought experiment.
‘Coconut Shrimp’ by Super American
"I kinda miss chilling with the homies." Me too, man. Me too. “Coconut Shrimp” is a syrupy power pop song about balancing time with your significant other and the boys. The song – and the rest of the tracks on the band's fantastic 2018 record “Tequila Sunrise” – is irresistibly catchy. The vocals are smooth, the guitars glossy and the lyrics are wonderfully goofy. It’s a nice little bit of escapism.
‘Happiness Hours’ by The Sidekicks
“Happiness Hours” is an exercise in free association. Frontman Steve Ciolek touches on the Midwest, market cornering, happiness, love and a litany of other things in the span of five minutes. Keys, horns and electric guitars are placed perfectly throughout, spurring the listener up a mountain until they reach the apex and can see the grand valley beneath. The instrumentation is beautiful, but the lyrics feel especially potent to me now. “If happiness comes in hours. Well, it looks like it’s that time again for me.” Happiness is a rare commodity now. The atmosphere of the world is so oppressive, so uncertain. It seems like happiness does come in hours right now. So, if you have a moment that brings you joy, hold onto it.
