Pressure drop

After yet more frantic work intensity, I found myself relaxing into music that was familiar and welcoming. Chasing down YouTube videos, I was reliving tracks (ancient and modern) I adored but hadn't listened to in ages … or finding myself suddenly seduced by more recent discoveries, all over again.

A playlist of sorts emerged, and if there's a theme, it is that 'release' I was searching for. All of these selections push whatever internal button I have that lets some pressure escape through the valve - whether it's through sheer beauty, infectious joy, distraction and agitation, highly-wrought emotion or catharsis … you'll probably realise which tunes belong to which category! But all of them rocket me out of my universe and into theirs, which was very much the point.

I hope you enjoy the line-up. YouTube videos come and go from time to time, so I've also added a Spotify version of the playlist at the end.

Let's go: "It is YOU..."

*

Toots and the Maytals: 'Pressure Drop'

ABBA: 'Arrival'.

Schubert: 'Impromptu D899, op.90, no.4' (performed by Maria João Pires).

Laurie Anderson: 'O Superman'.

Duparc: 'Chanson triste' (performed by Elly Ameling, Dalton Baldwin).

Portico Quartet: 'Clipper'.

Debussy: 'Reverie' (performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet).

Belle and Sebastian: 'Play for Today'.

Arvo Pärt: Fratres (performed by the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra).

Amayenge: 'Munise Munise'.

Olivia Chaney: 'IOU'

John Adams: 'Phrygian Gates' (performed by Ralph van Raat).

Procol Harum: 'Cerdes (Outside the Gates Of)'.

Miles Davis: 'Shhh / Peaceful'.

Radiohead: 'Staircase'.

Wagner: 'Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 1' (performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Andris Nelsons)

Daft Punk: 'Giorgio by Moroder'.

Paul Simon: 'Hearts and Bones'.

Spotify version: