New songs to calm the nerves: 2025

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Songs Considered – New Songs to Calm the Nerves: 2025

Date: November 4, 2025
Host: Robin Hilton (NPR)
Guests: Dora Levitt, Sheldon Pierce

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Episode Overview

In this episode, All Songs Considered continues its widely appreciated "Songs to Calm the Nerves" playlist series, now focusing entirely on newly released music from 2025. Host Robin Hilton is joined by regular contributors Dora Levitt and Sheldon Pierce for an exploration of ambient, calming, and sometimes cathartic tracks—each bringing a unique perspective on what it means to find calm through music in tumultuous times. The conversation moves between genres and moods: from optimistic soundscapes and immersive ambient tracks to raw singer-songwriter confessions and even a cathartic punk release.

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Key Discussion Points & Song Picks

Breathing Exercises & the Need for Calm

[00:19]

• The episode begins with Robin guiding a "box breathing" exercise, setting a soothing tone. He jokes about trying to encourage his kids to participate, which they stubbornly resist.
  • Memorable moment:
    • Robin: “We're gonna take a deep breath together. Come on. And they won't do it, right? They just won't take breath. And then eventually devolves to me saying, take a deep breath.” [00:53]

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1. Kieran Hebden & William Tyler – "Secret City"

[01:31]

• Dora's Pick: Dora describes calming music as something that propels her forward through repetition and momentum, and cites "Secret City" as music that achieves an immersive flow state.
  • Dora: “Something that I find calms my nerves in music is a song that will just push me forward. Whether that's with repetitive noises or just momentum…” [01:31]
• Songs designed to calm don’t need to be "spa music"—they can be about “optimism music,” which lifts the spirit.
  • Dora: “This feels more to me like optimism music rather than spa music. I feel like spa music can kind of sometimes just be nothing and calm. And this feels like it's looking towards something greater.” [03:06]
• Sheldon finds ambient music more effective when it is purposeful:
  • Sheldon: “But something like this that is really drawing you somewhere, that has real power to settle you.” [03:26]

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2. Cassandra Jenkins – "Only Relaxation" (from My Light, My Massage Parlor)

[04:40]

• Sheldon’s Pick: Instrumental ambient music flavored with environmental and city sounds, giving a sense of world-building.
  • Sheldon: “There is both an openness and a sense of quiet to this that feels like maybe the best of both worlds...” [10:18]
• The music is playfully spa-themed and somewhat ironic, but the beauty overrides any self-aware facetiousness.
  • Dora: “It is kind of nice to be able to step into another person's life, too, when you're at your most anxious…” [07:04]
  • Robin: "World building is really important to me when I'm reaching for music to calm my nerves. When you add in ambient sounds, found sounds, things like that, that really transports me." [07:36]

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3. David Cordero – "Umedo" (from Let One Bird Sing)

[07:59]

• Robin’s Pick: Ambient, nature-infused, “supreme world-building” that evokes a peaceful walk with a friend; focuses on openness, subtlety, expanse.
  • Robin: “Honestly, ambient, amorphous, drifty music from the ether. That's just about all I can handle this year... Everything I hear, everything I see feels like it has an edge to it. And this is just about my speed this year, I think.” [09:45]
  • Sheldon: “This settles, like, right in that perfect middle ground where I think it's engaging enough that you do feel like you are a part of something here. But there is, like, such a great expanse that you can get lost in it as well.” [10:18]

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4. Kia – "Stupid Prizes"

[11:57]

• Dora’s Pick: Music that addresses anxiety directly can be calming because of shared experience. “Anxiety met with anxiety cancels it all out.”
  • Dora: "I want to feel like. I feel like anxiety met with anxiety, cancels it all out." [13:20]
  • Sheldon: "There's comfort in knowing that someone else is going through what you're going through." [14:00]
• The track creatively uses easy listening samples (Percy Faith), enhancing the feeling of sensory deprivation and calm.

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5. Anastasia – "Unrest" (from Tether)

[16:39]

• Sheldon’s Pick: A soulful, consoling song about finding comfort amid turmoil, with vocals compared to Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman but “a bit more fragile and delicate.”
  • Robin: “I mean, the second her voice comes in, everything in the world is better.” [18:04]
  • Dora: “It made me think about a lullaby. It made me think about parents singing a lullaby. It made. It just warmed my heart.” [18:57]

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6. Klein – “It Is What It Is in D Minor” (from Sleep with a Cane)

[19:25]

• Robin’s Pick: Abstract, electronic soundscape that blends feelings of gentle eeriness and comfort.
  • Robin: "I like a little bit of creepy in my relaxing music because it's sort of like when you're inside under a blanket during a thunderstorm or something. It makes me feel really cozy." [21:53]
  • Dora: “Do you also feel pretty content, though, listening to this song? I feel like even in the title, it is what it is in D minor. As I'm listening, I'm kind of just like, yeah, my life is my life.” [23:03]
  • Robin: “I think she's got a pretty good sense of humor, too. I mean, just calling—the moment you add the key that a song is in, it instantly rises to some grander level...” [23:21]

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7. Mark Prince Richard & Thom Yorke – "The Spirit"

[24:27]

• Dora’s Pick: Repetitive, drone-like, hopeful electronic/folk collaboration about “defiant joy” and passing on that optimism.
  • Robin: “Do it to your hold idea of looking for some optimism, too. I mean, this whole song's about defiant joy completely.” [26:19]
  • Dora (on therapeutic resonance): "It lights up my eyes. I also feel like this must be what they play during tapping therapy or emdr." [26:25]

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8. Hand Habits – "Jasmine Blossoms"

[28:28]

• Sheldon’s Pick: Song about intentional escapism and community care as a form of calm—a refusal to let world events be overwhelming without seeking moments of introspective peace.
  • Sheldon: “It is important to sort of balance that realization with little moments taken to yourself. And this song feels like such a beautiful attempt to find that balance.” [30:35]
  • Dora: “It is nice to want to join someone in, like, community action and realization. And just like, try.” [31:19]

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9. Ozbolt – "Harkerville Coastal Trail" (from Chasing Drakens)

[32:14]

• Robin’s Pick: Ambient field recording-inspired piece described as being like “floating away like a helium filled balloon” [34:25], or the peaceful soundscape of “the Good Place.”
  • Robin: "It's very transporting for me." [34:25]
  • Dora: “There was a quote that said, what happens when you leave a harp in a field and let the wind pass over it? Which I thought was really beautiful and really apt.” [35:55]

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10. Samia – "Pool (Stripped)" (from Baby Fifth Anniversary Deluxe)

[36:31]

• Dora’s Pick: A raw, intimate rerecording, stretching the theme of calming music to include personal and familial connection—Samia’s grandmother’s voice opens the track
  • Dora: "Hearing your grandmother speak to you is just the ultimate lullaby." [38:34]
  • Robin: “Everything's just kind of more in the clear and raw, like you said. So it ends up being more intimate and more transporting. It feels like you're much closer to it all.” [39:10]
  • Sheldon: “There is a connection being made, and I think that is the power of it.” [39:26]

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11. The Armed – "I Steal What I Want" (from The Future Is Here and Everything Needs to be Destroyed)

[40:10]

• Sheldon’s Pick: Catharsis over quiet—sometimes the best way to calm nerves is to rage and release.
  • Sheldon: “This song is from an album called the Future Is Here and Everything Needs to be destroyed. And there is like a real rage room quality about the song that invokes, like, the fire in me that needs to be put out.” [41:19]
  • Dora: “There still needs to be a moment where I just have a great scream and just kind of, like you said, a rage room, just a great scream. And this really does that?” [42:07]
  • Robin: “If this is what you need to do to reset and then suddenly you feel a lot better, I get it.” [42:26]

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12. Stars of the Lid – "Good Night" (30th Anniversary Remaster, Music for Nitrous Oxide)

[42:55]

• Robin’s Closing Pick: Ambient “gold standard”—calm as near-silence. A seminal work in the genre, now reissued and remastered.
  • Dora: “Out of all of the ambient music that we played today, this one sounded the most like silence to me, which I thought was really cool to be able to pinpoint a sound as closest to silence.” [44:10]
  • Sheldon: “It really does feel like they are operating the knobs inside your brain and putting it to all the right settings.” [44:40]
  • Robin: “That is definitely what's going on in this music.” [44:56]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On “optimism music” vs. spa music:

  • Dora: “This feels more to me like optimism music rather than spa music... This feels like it's looking towards something greater.” [03:06]

• On using music as an empathetic mirror for anxiety:

  • Dora: “I feel like anxiety met with anxiety, cancels it all out.” [13:20]

• On escapism in music:

  • Robin: “I don't want to be me anymore. When I'm listening to music. I want to get away. As far away from me as possible.” [22:45]

• On cathartic music as calm:

  • Sheldon: “There is a real rage room quality about the song that invokes, like, the fire in me that needs to be put out. There's just something about the thrash of it really feeling like it's getting all the jitters out. And then you can be normal and have the reset that is required. It's a different kind of calm…" [41:19]

• Stars of the Lid described as the ‘gold standard’ of calming music:

  • Robin: “For me they are synonymous with music to calm the nerves, the gold standard of calming music.” [43:00]

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Thematic Threads & Reflections

• Calm is Subjective: Each host or guest defines calm differently. For Robin, true escape is a loss of self; Dora seeks optimistic movement and recognition of shared human struggle; Sheldon sometimes prefers cathartic, even agitated, releases.
• World-Building in Sound: Several picks aren’t just passive—by including field recordings, city sounds, or layering environmental textures, these songs give listeners a sense of being elsewhere.
• Empathy and Community: Whether conveyed through lyrics or emotional delivery, songs expressing anxiety, struggle, or warmth offer listeners a sense of solidarity and hope, touching on the communal nature of music's soothing power.
• Reset and Perspective: All hosts return to the theme of finding “reset” from overwhelm, whether by tranquil ambient sound, empathetic storytelling, or energetic catharsis.

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Quick Reference Guide to Songs & Timestamps

| Song / Artist | Segment Start | |---------------------------------------------|---------------| | “Secret City” — Kieran Hebden & William Tyler | 01:31 | | “Only Relaxation” — Cassandra Jenkins | 04:40 | | “Umedo” — David Cordero | 07:59 | | “Stupid Prizes” — Kia | 11:57 | | “Unrest” — Anastasia | 16:39 | | “It Is What It Is in D Minor” — Klein | 19:25 | | “The Spirit” — Mark Prince Richard & Thom Yorke | 24:27 | | “Jasmine Blossoms” — Hand Habits | 28:28 | | “Harkerville Coastal Trail”—Ozbolt | 32:14 | | “Pool (Stripped)” — Samia | 36:31 | | “I Steal What I Want” — The Armed | 40:10 | | “Good Night”—Stars of the Lid | 42:55 |

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Conclusion

The episode closes with a tribute to the enduring power of ambient music, specifically Stars of the Lid, whose remastered works serve as a final “reset” for listeners' frayed nerves. The discussion is full of warmth, mutual understanding, and moments of levity, capturing the myriad ways people use music to escape, recharge, and reconnect.

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For the full playlist, find “Songs to Calm the Nerves” on Spotify and Apple Music via NPR.

Transcript

[Announcer]

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[Robin Hilton]

Let's just start with a little box breathing. You know, and this isn't anything that you know, like, you don't have to be lying down to do. You can be doing anything. Maybe you're on your bike right now. Maybe you're driving your car into work or something. Just go ahead and close your eyes. Take a slow, deep breath. You're not holding your breath.

[Dora Levitt]

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I forgot about the top of the box.

[Robin Hilton]

I can't tell you how many times I try to get my kids when they're freaking out. I say, okay, come on, let's take a.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Just.

[Robin Hilton]

We're gonna take a deep breath together. Come on. And they won't do it, right? They just won't take breath. And then eventually devolves to me saying, take a deep breath. Well, it's all songs considered. I'm Robin Hilton, here with Dora Levitt. Sheldon Pierce. This is the fourth installment in our ongoing mixes or playlists of songs to calm the nerves. We started it last year with songs to calm the nerves, and then we did more songs to calm the nerves and even more songs to calm the nerves. Those were all a mix of new and old stuff. So for this installment, we're gonna focus entirely on new stuff.

[Dora Levitt]

Something that I find calms my nerves in music is a song that will just push me forward. Whether that's with repetitive noises or just momentum will just kind of propel me forward. And it can be a long song. And by the end, I don't even realize how long it was because I'm just there. And a song that I feel like really does that for me is Secret City by Kieran Hebden and William Tyler.

[Sam]

Sam.

[Dora Levitt]

I feel like with songs that make you calm, a lot of times I immediately go to like, oh, it has to be spa music. And this feels more to me like optimism music rather than spa music. I feel like spa music can kind of sometimes just be nothing and calm. And this feels like it's looking towards something greater.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, this song just sort of, like, steadily keeps growing and growing and growing, and then by the end, you feel full. It's like there's this riff in the foreground that is, like, drawing your immediate attention, but you have the wall of noise in the back just, like, shifting and reverberating, and it's really Pulling you in a very specific direction that feels purposeful. To your point about spa music, a lot of that stuff does not work for me. Yeah, I don't like ambient music that is just, like, existing in the background that has no immediate purpose in, like, poking at your brain. That stuff doesn't really work for me, even as a calming effect. But something like this that is really drawing you somewhere, that has real power to settle you.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I really like how you put that. This is what you call it, optimist music.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

That's a great way of putting it. Something that is not just calming you down, but making you feel better, just about everything. That's great. So, Kieran Hebden, William Tyler. Secret City is the song from the album 41 Longfield street, late 80s, that came out on September 19th. Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

When you told me you wanted to do this show, there was immediately a song that popped into my head. It's by the folk pop artist Cassandra Jenkins. It's called Only Relaxation. I think the name pretty much tells you about the direction that she's headed here.

[Sam]

Sam. Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Cassandra Jenkins is. She's a perennial favorite. Whenever we talk about music to calm the nerves, she has. This is an instrumental piece, actually, is the whole album. The whole album is, isn't it? Yeah. So this is from. Well, to the whole spa theme. This album is called My Light, My Massage Parlor. She's done spoken word and sung pieces that are also incredibly calming. This is nice, too.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah. I mean, last year, Jenkins released an incredible album called My Light, My Destroyer. This is a companion piece to that record that's, like, sort of playing in its backyard. It's got, like, little piano sketches and flourishes on songs from the original album. But this is, like a standalone cut that really feels like it's playing directly into the massage parlor ideal. You've got the croaking frogs in the background, the nature sounds just sort of twinkling on the back as she gently caresses those keys and lulls you into a trance.

[Robin Hilton]

So do you think that she's being ironic at all with.

[Sheldon Pierce]

I do think there's something a little facetious about it.

[Robin Hilton]

So does that not take you out of the moment? You know what I mean?

[Sheldon Pierce]

It doesn't, because I think the music is so beautifully spellbinding.

[Dora Levitt]

I also think because she adds in those city sounds as well, especially in the first track in this album and the last track, where you walk into the massage parlor and you leave. It is kind of nice to be able to step into another person's life, too, when you're at your most anxious, and you can kind of be like, okay, I'm now this person walking into a massage parlor, and it doesn't matter that I'm starting from outside, because I can just have a new life.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, there's a little act of world building that is taking place here that I can really appreciate. I get sucked into it.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, World building is really important to me when I'm reaching for music to calm my nerves. When you add in, like, the ambient sounds, found sounds, things like that, that really transports me. And you're gonna hear it in this first thing that I want to play. All my picks this go around are very sort of traditional. They're very ambient.

[Sheldon Pierce]

I was like, this is drone music 101 from Robin.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, a lot of drone music. A lot of ambient music, electronic music. This first artist I want to play is David Cordero. He's a composer and a producer from Spain, and he has put out several albums this year. The one I want to focus on is an album called Let One Bird Sing, and the song I want to play from it is called Umedo.

[Sam]

Sa.

[Robin Hilton]

What do you think, Dora? Is this moving you forward? Even though it's sort of amorphous and kind of drifting? It's like you're on a walk with this person.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I think because it is exactly like you're on a walk with this person and you can hear every single step. It does move me forward a little bit. Yeah, it really is the supreme world building with the nature crackling and the steps. Yeah, it's beautiful.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. So umedol means wetland in Spanish, so I think that's maybe some of the sounds that you're hearing in there. I mean, honestly, ambient, amorphous, drifty music from the ether. That's just about all I can handle this year, honestly, Sheldon. I mean, my senses are on just high alert and everything is exaggerated. Everything I hear, everything I see feels like it has an edge to it. And this is just about my speed this year, I think.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, well, I mean, I can understand that. There is both an openness and a sense of quiet to this that feels like maybe the best of both worlds in terms of white noise and nature sounds being the default sleep setting for a lot of people. And also synth music being this very pacifying sound bath quality type music. This settles, like, right in that perfect middle ground where I think it's engaging enough that you do feel like you are a part of something here. But there is, like, such a great expanse that you can get lost in it as well.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, that's. That's what I want. I want to be taken out of my head for a while.

[Sheldon Pierce]

And.

[Robin Hilton]

I don't know, it just kind of sounds like you're on a walk with a really good friend, and you've known each other for so long, you don't even have to say a word to each other. You can just kind of be out in that. That space. It's really, really beautiful. Best I can tell, David Cordero has released a lot of music this year. I counted five albums, multiple collaborations. There's been some singles, too. He did this album with the Canadian producer. I think I'm saying this right. Athena. A N T H E N E and really beautiful again. It's called Let One Bird Sing. Came out just earlier in October. On October 23rd. Dora, we're back to you.

[Dora Levitt]

I was thinking about this before this episode. I was like, what makes me chiller? And it's listening to music that reminds me that someone else is also anxious and someone else is also feeling that burden of humanity, I guess.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

And a song that I really see that in is Stupid Prizes by Kia.

[Sam]

I can't take the blame But I can't stay the same And I can't play these games and I can't play the spades Cause I'm winning Stupid prizes And I can't use the lies of the same old lies I tried to stay alive Tell me how I'm supposed to drive when all I known is to survive and all I known is to lie alive Tell me how I'm supposed to thrive when all I've known is to survive All I've known is to lie alive I've been around the way From Montego Bay to the south of Spain Still I claim the bay Laid on the beach was Akima and me on the salty water waters of the Adriatic Sea but still our clouds I see.

[Dora Levitt]

It completely washes over me. Unless maybe this is kind of a little selfish. Unless I feel like it's like targeting a certain part of myself that's making me feel nervous or anxious. And so I want to feel like. I feel like anxiety met with anxiety, cancels it all out.

[Robin Hilton]

That's basic math. Yeah.

[Sam]

Great. Exactly.

[Dora Levitt]

Exactly.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Well, there is something also about this song in particular that is, like, almost hymnal, like, totally. The melodies, the harmonies that are sort of reverberating behind her. It's almost like an Elysian Paradisical, like, feeling.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

And so you are instantly drawn to that and calmed by that. But how I'm supposed to thrive when all I've known it's to survive when all I've known is how to rely on AI. Like there's comfort in knowing that someone else is going through what you're going through. Like just really feeling the trudge of the day to day grind and like trying to make their way through.

[Dora Levitt]

And the music you're hearing under I Was reading is Percy Faith's music, who was a composer who wrote things like the Theme from the Summer Place and Romeo and Juliet and all that. Really quintessential kind of like American, but also like easy listening too. He made a lot of easy listening music and the total wash of his music really adds to the feeling. Whenever I'm listening to this song I feel like I'm in like a sensory deprivation tank.

[Robin Hilton]

I think that the connective tissue here is that whatever you're listening to, you're looking for some sort of reset. You're looking for some perspective. And whether that perspective comes in a bunch of, you know, ambient tones and nature sounds because it puts you in a very specific environment, or if it's hearing a story from someone else's life that gives you perspective, the end result is sort of the same.

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[Sheldon Pierce]

In the same vein as Dora's last pick. I want to go to a song where I'm sort of drawn to the idea of it, the shared perspective with the artist. It's a song called Unrest by the soul singer Anastasia.

[Sam]

Why were we win? Sky didn't fall the moon still sits and the sun still rises the end of your day does your bid not.

[Dora Levitt]

Provide.

[Sam]

And when you wake up don't you have a little more time? It's the same. Same unrest.

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, come on.

[Sheldon Pierce]

So good.

[Robin Hilton]

That's insane. I mean, the second her voice comes in, everything in the world is better.

[Sheldon Pierce]

It's the sound of that alone is enough to sort of pass.

[Robin Hilton]

The guitar's lovely, too.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yes. There's something almost very like Nick Drake about the guitars. And then her voice has drawn comparisons to Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman. I think there's something a bit more fragile and delicate about it. The way she sort of inches out notes. There's almost a whisper quality to them that is just so striking. The whole album, which is called Tether, really beautiful, full of this kind of music. But I was drawn for this show to Unrest because the song itself is about sort of finding comfort in someone despite the noise of the outside world.

[Dora Levitt]

There's such warmth here. You really feel closeness to this song. It made me think about a lullaby. It made me think about parents singing a lullaby. It made. It just warmed my heart.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. So beautiful. Wow. I can't believe I missed this record when it came out. Came out In June, on June 13th. Her debut album.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yes. The first she's done.

[Robin Hilton]

I thought, wasn't she in that. Was she in a Kendrick video?

[Sheldon Pierce]

She's also in the video for Kendrick Lamar and SZA's Luther.

[Robin Hilton]

Luther. Yeah, that's right. Okay, well, I've got another, I guess you would call it ambient or electronic piece. I know all of my picks this week really fall into that category. This is from an artist that goes by the name Klein, a British musician and producer. She's put out two albums this year. She had one in February called 13 cents and one at the top of October called Sleep with a Cane. That's the one that I want to play a song from. This is a cut called It Is what it Is in D minor.

[Sam]

SA Sam.

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, to me, if you want to get out of your head, this one sort of hypnotizes you. I mean, the. The longer you listen, the more, you know, reality just disappears and you're kind of floating while you listen to it. Some of the. Have you heard this album? Have you guys listened to this? Yeah. I mean, some of it gets pretty weird and kind of creepy.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Which I was thinking, you know, I like a little bit of creepy in my relaxing music because it's sort of like when you're inside under a blanket during a thunderstorm or something. It makes me feel really cozy.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

It can't be too creepy, but just like. Just a little bit of a. Yeah, a little bit of a thread of that in this music. Really beautiful.

[Sheldon Pierce]

I think it's funny you say that, because I find this kind of thing more interesting, invigorating than calming. But I was thinking, you know, maybe that's semantics, like a distinct. Two distinct effects that, like, lead you to the same place. In the end, you feel refreshed by both processes. I mean, there's something really sweeping and echoey about this one in particular that feels like, you know, hearing a voice on the wind and trying to follow it to its source. There's something almost out of body about the experience of listening to it. But, I mean, sometimes that's exactly what you need.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I don't want to be me anymore. When I'm listening to music. I want to get away. As far away from me as possible.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Robin, is there something we need to talk about?

[Robin Hilton]

Life is just life and, you know.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you.

[Dora Levitt]

Don't you also feel pretty content, though, listening to this song? I feel like even in the title, it is what it is in D minor. As I'm listening, I'm kind of just like, yeah, my life is my life. And now I get to hear it in a song.

[Robin Hilton]

It is what it is.

[Dora Levitt]

It is what it is. But now it's in D minor.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, well, I mean, it's. I think she's got a pretty good sense of humor, too. I mean, just calling. The moment you add the key that a song is in, it instantly rises to some grander level.

[Sheldon Pierce]

There's a seriousness.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, there's a seriousness like such and such in F sharp minor or whatever. But it's so amorphous and such a wash of sound that pegging it to any specific key, I mean, maybe it's in D minor. It doesn't sound like it to me, but it's kind of comical. And then calling the album Sleep With a Cane, I mean, the older you get, the worse you sleep. And the idea of needing a cane when you're unconscious in bed is. I don't know. That's pretty hilarious to me. So the song, again, it Is what It Is in D minor from Klein and her album Sleep with a Cane just came out October 1st.

[Dora Levitt]

Robin. I feel like whenever I'm on the show, I'm always talking about, like, a monotonous drone or really just repetitive electronic music, and I'm not gonna change that.

[Robin Hilton]

I'm not changing that for you.

[Dora Levitt]

I'm not changing that for you. I don't care. But I was saying about how I like monotonous music to push me forward, and that I find it really calming. I feel like is at its best when it's similar to the Kieran Hebden and William Tyler song, where it's an electronic artist and like a folk rock person, too. And so I want to play another song that's like that. The Spirit by Mark Prince Richard and Tom York.

[Sam]

Nobody's fool and you can't bring me down.

[Dora Levitt]

I am not the fool.

[Sam]

That you think I am I will be right revealed I keep the spirit alive I wish you well Pray for people.

[Robin Hilton]

Do it to your hold idea of looking for some optimism, too. I mean, this whole song's about defiant joy completely.

[Dora Levitt]

And it's about passing that on to another person, too, and sharing that. And I think that's so beautiful, and that's so hopeful. And the way that the chords resolve on top of this steady beat feels like it lights up my eyes. I also feel like this must be what they play during tapping therapy or emdr.

[Sam]

Hmm.

[Robin Hilton]

Have you ever heard of tapping therapy?

[Sam]

I don't know.

[Dora Levitt]

It's this idea that if you and I might get this wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's this idea that when. If you experience a repetitive tapping and you can do it through, like, shifting your eyes back and forth in emotion, you can rewire the way that you process traumatic experiences.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, I have heard about that. Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, I didn't know about that. I was gonna say, I think strobing effects are already just like, a really settling sensation. That tapping sensation as it goes on in this song feels like really steadying. It's. It's like a steadying force. And then the whole thing sort of like breaks out into this really lovely string arrangement at the end, which is. It feels like this grand payoff.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, Dora, one thing that I've come to realize as we're playing through all this music is you want to feel better. And I want to be unconscious, like you want to. You still want to exist in the world and be aware. You just want to feel good while you're in it. And I just want to be anesthetized, still feel.

[Dora Levitt]

You'll still feel better.

[Robin Hilton]

I feel a lot better. Maybe when I come out of this.

[Dora Levitt]

Sheldon, how do you want to feel?

[Sheldon Pierce]

I don't know.

[Robin Hilton]

I know exactly how you want to feel with one of these picks.

[Sheldon Pierce]

No, we're not there yet.

[Robin Hilton]

No. Are we not there yet.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Not quite yet.

[Robin Hilton]

We're holding on to that.

[Sam]

Okay.

[Sheldon Pierce]

I'm still thinking about navigating or trying to find joy in a world that feels increasingly joyless. There's another song that I brought. It's by the band Hand Habits, and it's kind of about, like there's an ever crushing state of the world news bulletin blaring in your pocket device every single moment of every single day. And it can be hard to get away from that, but, like, it needs to be an intentional choice. And on one of their songs, Jasmine Blossoms, it's about taking. Taking that back for yourselves. And so I. I would love to hear.

[Sam]

Jasmine Blossoms A hawk on the wind I listen as she sings along with the sirens Too much darkness they kill innocence Innocent men I heard it on the radio When I pray for the children Try to find the joy Harmonize you the ending of the western world we're the ones to play Our bellies filled with ca.

[Robin Hilton]

Where'S this taking you?

[Sheldon Pierce]

Well, I guess it's hard for me to, like, believe in escapism because I believe active participation in your community is, like, the most important thing you can do. And helping another person through whatever they're dealing with is what calms me, honestly. And so when I listen to this song, I am just, like, constantly thinking about the idea that terrible things are always happening. They may feel like they're happening more now than ever, but they've always happened. And it is important to sort of balance that realization with little moments taken to yourself. And this song feels like such a beautiful attempt to find that balance.

[Dora Levitt]

That is so beautiful. When I hear them kind of wail try, it makes me also want to try and want to join them in that act. It is nice to want to join someone in, like, community action and realization. And just like, try.

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[Sheldon Pierce]

This message comes from Bombas. You need better socks and slippers and underwear because you should love what you wear every day. One purchased equals one donated. Go to bombus.com NPR and use code NPR for 20% off.

[Robin Hilton]

I really want to play more Ambient music to get away from everything. And you know, Sheldon, I'm going to have to ask you to actively participate in escaping with me from everything. If you're up for it, I'll watch.

[Sheldon Pierce]

You escape from the car.

[Robin Hilton]

All right. As I drift off into like a helium filled balloons floating away. This is from the artist that goes by the name Ozbolt O Z B O L T. He's a German Croatian electronic composer. Put out a new album in the spring called, I think it's pronounced Chasing Drakens. It's spelled C H A S Y N G Chasing and Drakens is D R A K E N S Chasing Drakens. And the song I want to play from it is called Harkerville Coastal Trail.

[Sam]

SA Sam sat coming in and out.

[Robin Hilton]

The steady wind blowing. It's a longer piece if you listen to it. Eventually night falls, you hear crickets. I don't know. I really like the image that I got talking to you just before playing the song of me floating away like a helium filled balloon. So that's what I'm doing right now. I'm floating over the beach watching all of this. It's very transporting for me.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Do you think of calm as a place that you are trying to get to in private?

[Robin Hilton]

Hmm, that's a good question. I think so.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Okay.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

What. What would it be for you?

[Sheldon Pierce]

I think of calm as a place that I. Any place that I can find peace and a lot of times for me that's in the company of others, just away from the chaos of whatever's lingering outside, be it work or the politics of the day, what have you. Just like finding solace in community, I think. But I do really appreciate this. I mean, I think about, have you seen the show the Good Place? Oh, and just like waking up in the chair and you are in the good. This is like how I imagine the actual good place resets music sounding. You pop up into this empty space and it's just you.

[Dora Levitt]

You think you'd be calm then.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

You're like, what is happening?

[Sam]

What?

[Dora Levitt]

Where am I?

[Robin Hilton]

One of the all time greatest shows. I have never sobbed so hard in my life as I did at the end of that show.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I was reading a little bit about the album as a whole and the idea that when they were making this album, they wanted it to be a chance experiment. There was a quote that said, what happens when you leave a harp in a field and let the wind pass over it? Which I thought was really beautiful and really apt. It feels very spiritual and just kind of like things are happening out of our control.

[Robin Hilton]

Osbolt is the artist. Harkerville Coastal Trail is the name of the song from the album Chasing Dragons that came out April 18th.

[Dora Levitt]

I want to play Samya, an older song that came out five years ago that has been reimagined and completely stripped back, largely inspired by her Tiny Desk performance. The song is called Pool in parentheses Stripped, and it's from the album that just came out September 5, the fifth anniversary reissue of the Baby.

[Sam]

I said loving you is bigger than my head. And then you dove in. And then I said, I'm afraid that I need men. You said, need me then if you are already scared with your mask up in the air, then try to breathe under the water through this tube. How long do you think we can sit here?

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

I love Samya.

[Dora Levitt]

She's amazing. Her voice is so beautiful. The voice that you hear at the beginning, though, is her grandmother's.

[Robin Hilton]

I wondered what that recording was.

[Dora Levitt]

It's her grandmother speaking in Arabic. And hearing your grandmother speak to you is just the ultimate lullaby.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

And this whole song about the passage of time and trying to be present while feeling the anxieties of the future. I mean, like, talk about listening to another person talk about their anxieties. Make you feel seen. It's so beautiful and so poignant.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

I think the stripped down nature of this version, too, is, like, really lending it something raw and visceral that really just speaks to me. Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

The original version of this song is pretty dreamy, too, but it's washed out in all this reverb. And this one's just. Everything's just kind of more in the clear and raw, like you said. So it ends up being more intimate and more transporting. It feels like you're much closer to it all.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah. There's no distance between you and her as a performer, which leads to almost what feels like a dialogue. Even though she's the only one speaking, there is a connection being made, and I think that is the power of it.

[Robin Hilton]

So the stripped version of Pool, Pool Stripped is from the fifth anniversary edition of the Baby that came out on September 5th. And, Dora, you mentioned the Tiny Desk concert that she did. She did that song at the Tiny Desk, and that version is also on the album. I think there may be three versions of this song on this new deluxe.

[Dora Levitt]

Perfect. It's a great song.

[Robin Hilton]

Anniversary edition. Yeah. So are we doing this? Sheldon, you talked about the joy of getting a good scream out. Is that what's happening with this pick here?

[Sheldon Pierce]

This next pick is certainly along those lines, I mean, when I'm feeling anxious, white noise and ambient music don't really cut it. I need to vent, I need to rage. And that is part of the effect of this song by the hardcore band the Armed. It's called I Steal what I Want.

[Robin Hilton]

And I'll just say if you don't want to hear loud rock music right now because of everything else we play and just skip ahead 30 seconds, we'll pick up the conversation.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah. Rolling Love oblivion Will stealing everything we want Slow motion Get away Lights in the bubble Moves up and fade Grave.

[Robin Hilton]

We'Ll crack the sand so calming. Not so much for me, but cathartic for sure. Are they the same thing for you?

[Sheldon Pierce]

Yeah, I think there's really no difference in the way that I experience things. This song is from an album called the Future Is Here and Everything Needs to be destroyed. And there is like a real rage room quality about the song that invokes, like, the fire in me that needs to be put out. There's just something about the thrash of it really feeling like it's getting all the jitters out. And then you can be normal and have the reset that is required. It's a different kind of calm, I think. And it's not one that comes without agitation, obviously, but for me, there. There is nothing more refreshing.

[Dora Levitt]

I really also feel that I feel like any sort of anxiety or nerves that I feel and I push through. There still needs to be a moment where I just have a great scream and just kind of, like you said, a rage room, just a great scream. And this really does that?

[Robin Hilton]

No, I think that's totally legit. I mean, I think, yeah, again, it's the reset. You're looking for some sort of reset. And if this is what you need to do to reset and then suddenly you feel a lot better, I get it. So we've got a Songs to Calm the Nerves playlist. It's where we've been putting all of the music that we feature in this series, all in a single playlist. I think we're up to maybe four hours of music on that single playlist. We'll add the arms in there. It's easy to hit skip if it's harshing someone's mellow and all the other stuff that you heard on this episode in that playlist. If you just search for NPR and Apple Music or Spotify, you'll find it. I'm going to take us out on something that is new only in that it was just re released and remastered for a 30th anniversary edition of the original album came out 30 years ago from Stars of the Lid and the album Music for Nitrous Oxide. The band Stars of the Lid, if you listen to this show very much at all, you have heard us talk about them a lot. But for me they are synonymous with music to calm the nerves, the gold standard of calming music. Adam Wiltse and Brian McBride Brian McBride passed away suddenly in 2023. I think he was only 53 years old. And Adam Wiltse, his musical partner, said that since his passing, Adam Wiltse wanted to revisit the Stars of the Lid discography and sort of bring new life to it. He went back. Some of the early recordings like this were super lo fi. So he went back, cleaned them up, remastered them, and it gives me a perfect excuse to play something from this album. The song I want to take us out on is called Good Night.

[Dora Levitt]

This song to me, out of all of the ambient music that we played today, this one sounded the most like silence to me, which I thought was really cool to be able to pinpoint a sound as closest to silence. I feel like at the beginning of the episode we were talking about the noise that's always in your head, and I learned recently that that's not some people don't hear that all the time, and some people hear silence, which was crazy, but this feels like what that could be.

[Sheldon Pierce]

There's something so intentional about the Stars of the Lid stuff. In particular, it really does feel like they are operating the knobs inside your brain and putting it to all the right settings.

[Robin Hilton]

I love the image of them twisting the knobs in my brain to get the settings just right. That is definitely what's going on in this music. So the song Good Night from Music for Nitrous Oxide. Thanks so much. Dora Levitt, Sheldon Pierce, thanks for having me.

[Dora Levitt]

Thanks for having me.

[Robin Hilton]

And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's All Songs Considered.

[Sam]

Sam Sa.

[Sheldon Pierce]

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[Sheldon Pierce]

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