Songs That Make You Wanna: Sleep Like A Baby
By Hannah Cook, Staff Writer
No more counting sheep or imagining a cow jumping over the moon. Besides, you’re not a child anymore and that never worked anyway. It’s time to move on to more practical ways to get those eyelids heavy and your mind steadily at ease.With this playlist of sweet lullabies plugged into your ears, you’re bound to fall into a peaceful lull, where the only thing cognizant is your mind mustering up your escaped memories to form a dream that you’ll probably forget the moment you open your eyes the next morning. It’s ten songs, but you’ll be lucky if you get through three before you’ve carelessly fallen into the best sleep you’ve ever had.
1.“We Will Stay Forever This Way” by According to Emile Durkheim…
The repetitive and simple piano progression never seems to get monotonous as it floats atop meager xylophone taps and what sounds like sweeping bristles across a hardwood floor.
2.“Sleep” by Au
This song is so lulling that Au probably could have composed it midst the deepest of sleepwalks. Their low and unhurried voices murmur tiring words and electric guitar plucks of different distortions wallow within one another. It’s all in the name, really.
3."Rugla" by Amiina
Maybe it’s because Iceland is a place so beautiful and enchanting that the musicians coming out of the country are able to create illusory music with such unique sounds. “Rugla” embodies soft string sinofettas and high-pitched wobbles of some sort, meanwhile the four women harmonize unknown words. There are even lively and adorable Pikachu-like chirps. Basically, the epitome of a bedtime song likely to cause the mouth to curl up into a smile.
4.“Window” by The Album Leaf
It’s not a sleepy playlist without at least one of the ethereal and atmospheric creations of The Album Leaf. What noises are coming out of what musical machines or instruments, I do not know. But technicality means nothing when the noises are those of this peaceful aesthetic.
5.”Wisconsin” by Bon Iver
Simply distant electric guitar strums and Justin Vernon’s special falsetto singing morose, insightful words certainly sounds saddening. Though it may be, “Wisconsin” also has a soothing ambience.. And his humbling harmonies only magnify the fact.
6.“Guilty Cubicles” by Broken Social Scene
A wordless song where slow repetitive electric guitar riffs do all the talking. They glide through one another and over electronic noises in a way that's atmospheric and fanciful.
7.“Happiness” by Jonsi and Alex
Of course Sigur Ros’ very own Jonsi, with his boyfriend and musical collaborator Alex, had to make it somewhere on this playlist, given that he creates the most mysterious and ethereal sounds.“Happiness,” which can be found on the latest Dark Was The Night album at more than nine minutes long, is just so full of different fuzzy sounds made by machines. It’s technology’s dexterity worked to the utmost fulfillment, sounding more natural than anything.
8.“Ceiling Wax” by Chairlift
There’s not doubt about it that this song was made for the nighttime. Like the others, it’s got a spacey aura to it, gradual and echoic. Unknown and flighty noises fit right in between steady drumbeats while Caroline Polachek’s lovely voice bounces off itself, like she’s singing in a cave.
9.“Lime Tree” by Bright Eyes
Once again, a seemingly sad tune embraced as a lullaby. It doesn’t matter that Conor Oberst has been doing this since he was thirteen years old, he’s still entirely capable of making songs that compel the brain to soak in emotion, may it be sadness, happiness, anger, confusion, whatever. What makes “Lime Tree” so tiring is the string instruments going in and out, from soft to intense, from high to low. Oberst’s spoken voice remains full of wisdom, and the soft plucks of the acoustic guitar - well, they're like floating down a river.
10."Untitled 3" (“Samskeyti”) by Sigur Ros
Just one more Icelandic masterpiece for the finale. The effortless piano playing in "Untitled 3” is key to laying the conscious to rest, especially as it’s enveloped in curious mechanical sounds. Things build up towards the end with more loudness and intensity, but as a fine ending to a sleepy playlist, everything comes to a slow and hushed conclusion.
