Valium albums

When taking the time to really unwind, one must remember that music can make a difference. Here is a list of albums that can lull you into a deep state of relaxation.

Air

Moon Safari

Air is everywhere, really. Advertisements, Sofia Coppola films, here, France, your bedroom, between your dutch-ovened sheets. Like, set adrift a memory bliss of you.

Enya

Shepherd Moons

Not just for Irish mums. This synth-forest elfin-dream dance-pop is an audio pillow. You can actually hear Enya exiting her cocoon and fluttering into the Celtic night.

Smooth-ass jazz

I don’t really know any offhand. Try the radio. Even the DJs are seductive. I’d let them hit it if they’d use that voice to tell me how soft I am.

Cat Power

Moon Pix

Obvious, I know, but the thunder claps and Chan Marshall’s voice rolls! I have a friend who lights candles and bathes to this album. I think he’s straight, too.

The Clientele

Suburban Light

There is driving music and there is bedroom music. You wouldn’t listen to Steppenwolf alone, drinking warm herbal tea. The Clientele personify rainy Sunday afternoons lying on the floor, hung-over, watching the record spin.

Sounds of Nature or The Great Outdoors

This is probably available at The Sharper Image, electronically built into a clear, upright alarm clock that actually projects the time onto your wall. With tracks named “Frogs in Pond,” “Wind-Grasshoppers-Locust,” and “Sea Storm-Wind Rain,” you’ll either float into dreamscapes or have intense nightmares of being lost at sea with only bugs for company.

Mum

Finally We Are No One

Icelandic bands always sound Icelandic. This little quartet will goose your bumps with their controlled mess of delight and their utterly tiny voices. They’re better than Sigur Ros and are a lot less triumphant. Bjork don’t stand a chance, neither. I always want to write, “Fuck whatcha heard” after stating something like that.