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.