With the low temperatures and respectable snow this past week, winter has wrapped its cold grip around the University of Connecticut. And what better way to celebrate—or cope—than by making a playlist to match the icy landscape? Here are some song recommendations to help reinforce or subsist the freezing weather.
Bon Iver — “Flume”
To me, no album is a better match for winter than Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago.” “Flume,” the opening track, sets the mood perfectly, with deliberate acoustic guitar strumming and Justin Vernon’s poignant crooning. The spare nature imagery, lyrics of love and feelings of loneliness shines strongly, but it comes off more melancholic than depressing. Add in the buzzing and creaks from the backing guitar as well as the fragile ambience created by the sparse piano, and you have the feeling of winter in just under four minutes.
Elliott Smith — “Angel in the Snow”
Elliott Smith has plenty of songs that fit the winter vibe, but none as overt as this one, recorded during sessions for his self-titled album. Much like the rest of his older work, it’s entirely acoustic, with just his whispered vocals and unique fingerstyle strumming. The longing feeling is apparent, as Smith ties making angels in the snow with other cold imagery in a few short verses to profess unreciprocated affection towards someone.
Phoebe Bridgers — “Punisher”
Funnily enough, “Punisher,” the title track from Phoebe Bridgers’ sophomore album, is about her extreme admiration for Smith, who was a huge inspiration for her. So, it’s no surprise that this also works as a great sonic companion for the coming months. While it’s an indie folk song, the fading in and out of pianos, synths and strings create a dreamy atmosphere, strengthened by Bridgers’ soft singing. It makes you feel like you’re walking through a nearly vacant city street, with only some small snowflakes for company, feeling tired and ready to get home.
TwinSisterMoon — “The Spears of the Wolf”
This song appears on “The Snowbringer Cult,” an ambitious album containing tracks from experimental duo Natural Snow Buildings and solo work from both members. Many songs bring to mind desolate winter landscapes with the powerful ambience created by droning noise. But “The Spears of the Wolf” is different. Mehdi Ameziane, as TwinSisterMoon, takes a bare-bones folk approach, using only acoustic guitar and his high register vocals to set the scene. It brings a feeling of wonder as you try to decipher Ameziane’s words while the syllables blend together in hypnotic fashion.
The Microphones — “The Mansion”
“The Mansion” may be the coldest-sounding song out there. It opens with 15 seconds of near silence before the sound of a creaking chair becomes audible, followed by an even eerier minute of panned guitar and ambient noises. By the time Phil Elverum’s measured vocals begin, you don’t even need the lyrics, with frequent references to lacking heat and aimlessness, to bring the current weather to mind. If you like spending your winter days huddled under blankets or by a fireplace, cursing the cold, this song could be your perfect match or your worst enemy.
Armand Hammer — “Doves”
“Doves,” first released as a single by Armand Hammer, a hip-hop duo consisting of Billy Woods and Elucid, is hard to nail down to a single genre. Over the course of nine minutes, there’s an underlying ambient portion made up of static, piano and infrequent vocals bellowing. The first three minutes feature whispered vocals from Benjamin Booker, singing about time’s inevitable march forward.
Then, Woods briefly takes the stage, rapping in a slow cadence about death and hunkering down in a ragged building, with the cold invading through open windows. Elucid closes it out with his deep singing, building on the themes of loss, with his vocals getting more distorted until they fade into the background static. It’s a heavy and ambitious song where Woods’ lyricism and the delicate balance of loud and quiet make it a worthy fit for the winter season.
If you would like to hear all these tracks in one place, check out this Spotify playlist: