Perfect Sunday morning albums

Summary

All Songs Considered: Perfect Sunday Morning Albums – Podcast Summary

Release Date: May 6, 2025
Host: Robin Hilton
Guests: Hazel Sills, Lars Guttridge
Podcast: NPR’s All Songs Considered

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Perfect Sunday Morning Albums," host Robin Hilton, alongside guests Hazel Sills and Lars Guttridge, delves into the quintessential playlists that set the tone for serene Sunday mornings. The discussion navigates through personal anecdotes, favorite albums, and the emotional resonance of specific tracks that make Sunday mornings uniquely special for each participant.

The Significance of Sunday Mornings

Robin Hilton opens the conversation by expressing his long-standing desire to explore Sunday morning music, stating, “Sunday mornings, right, there's no other time of the day that I think of music more than in the morning. And there's no morning I think of and music more than Sunday mornings” (01:11). This sets the stage for a heartfelt exploration of how different individuals associate music with the tranquility and reset that Sundays embody.

Lars Guttridge playfully questions Robin's preference, "Why on Sunday mornings? Why not Saturday mornings?" (01:26), prompting a deeper conversation about the distinct vibes that each day holds. Hazel Sills shares her perspective, highlighting that Sundays often represent a time to unwind and prepare for the upcoming week: “I associate Sundays more so than Saturdays with a reset, or it's a day for me to prepare for the week ahead” (01:37).

Personal Associations and Musical Upbringing

Hazel Sills provides a glimpse into her musical upbringing, explaining how her family’s habit of playing music every morning created a lasting impression: “I grew up in a very musical household... there was always a sense of... having this communal experience, listening to music” (04:27). This nostalgia influences her current Sunday morning rituals, where music remains a constant presence in her household.

Contrastingly, Robin shares a personal challenge with integrating music into his mornings due to his family's preference for silence: “I'm not allowed to play anything in the morning... I only listen to stuff on speakers when everyone leaves” (05:34). This situation leads him to categorize his morning music under "Alone at Last," where he can enjoy his selections without disturbance.

Favorite Albums and Musical Categories

The trio introduces various categories that encapsulate their Sunday morning listening preferences, each bringing forth distinct albums and genres:

1. Sunday Standards

   • Miles Davis – Kind of Blue: Robin refers to this jazz masterpiece as one of his “safeties” (02:25), while Lars praises it as a "Sunday standard" (02:41).
   • Astro Gilberto – The Astro Ghiberto Album: Hazel reminisces about this album’s role in her childhood mornings, stating, "I have this kind of nostalgic association with it" (03:07).

2. Alone at Last

   • Madra Douce – O Espirito de Paz: Robin describes this Portuguese band as embodying the sound of being at peace: “This music is not sad or super happy. It's sort of just the sound of being at peace with everything” (10:30).

3. Pick It Up

   • Django Reinhardt – 1937: Highlighting the whimsical and nostalgic qualities of Reinhardt’s music, Robin categorizes it under an optimistic "Pick It Up" vibe (22:36).

4. Minding My Grits

   • Ishmaan Williams and the Williams Singers – Old Ship of Zion: Lars introduces this gospel track as a way to prepare his soul for the week, connecting it to his Sunday morning rituals of cooking and family preparations (36:09).

5. Rousing Intimacy

   • Tirzah – Devotion: Hazel emphasizes the album's intimate and introspective qualities, which she finds perfect for waking up and embracing the day ahead (27:06).

6. Contained Rock

   • Electrolane – Power Out: Hazel selects this rock album for its balanced energy, making it suitable for Sunday mornings without being overly intense (41:13).

7. Safe Ambiance

   • St. Germain – Tourist: Robin nods to the album’s pervasive presence in social settings, noting its suitability for brunch parties and communal gatherings (51:42).

Musical Preferences and Personal Anecdotes

The discussion reveals how personal experiences and upbringing shape musical tastes. Robin’s late adoption of vinyl records contrasts with Hazel’s lifelong immersion in music, illustrating diverse paths to musical appreciation. Lars shares his evolving relationship with ska music, highlighting his journey from disliking the genre to appreciating its soulful elements in recent years (19:06).

Hazel and Lars also touch upon the cultural and emotional significance of certain songs, such as the ritualistic act of making tea accompanying intimate music moments, emphasizing the deeper connections music fosters in daily life (47:31).

Nostalgia Train: Reflecting on 2011’s Number One Songs

In a special segment, Stephen Thompson joins Robin to reminisce about the standout songs of 2011. Thompson highlights:

• Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – We Found Love: Described as “one of the hottest dance songs” (53:56), it exemplifies the pop energy of the time.
• King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine: Praised as a "feast of shimmering beauty," this collaborative album encapsulates the ambient and folk sensibilities appreciated by the NPR Music team (56:21).

Robin contrasts his musical preferences with Thompson’s, sharing his admiration for John Hopkins’ electronic work, despite not favoring the collaborative album as much (58:15). The conversation underscores the diverse musical landscape of 2011, reflecting on both mainstream hits and critically acclaimed indie projects.

Conclusion and Future Directions

As the episode wraps up, Robin and guests reflect on the enduring impact of music in shaping weekly routines and personal well-being. They tease future episodes that will celebrate the podcast’s 25th anniversary by revisiting number one songs from each year of the show’s history. The hosts emphasize the importance of music in providing solace, joy, and a sense of continuity in listeners' lives.

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Notable Quotes:

• Robin Hilton on Sunday mornings and music:

  “Sunday mornings... there's no morning I think of and music more than Sunday mornings.” (01:11)

• Hazel Sills on musical upbringing:

  “There was always a sense of... having this communal experience, listening to music.” (04:27)

• Lars Guttridge on evolving music tastes:

  “I've reassessed my relationship with ska. I still don't like to listen to it, but... it helps me ease into the morning a bit.” (08:12)

• Robin Hilton on personal music challenges:

  “I can't think of anything that they ever will let me play. So I only listen to stuff on speakers when everyone leaves.” (12:02)

• Stephen Thompson on 2011’s standout song:

  “We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris... a song that woke My ass up to pop music.” (54:19)

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This episode offers a rich exploration of how music intertwines with personal life, routines, and emotional landscapes, providing listeners with insights into crafting their perfect Sunday morning playlists.

Transcript

[Sponsor]

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[Robin Hilton]

Oh, hey, Hazel. Oh, Hazel. I watched. Well, I tried to watch Long Legs last night, and I fell asleep.

[Hazel Sills]

Don't watch it, Robin. It's not good.

[Robin Hilton]

I'm gonna do this entire episode in the voice of Long Legs.

[Lars Guttridge]

That's the. That's awful.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, it's.

[Robin Hilton]

It's the Long Legs voice.

[Hazel Sills]

It is like Tiny Tim. He's giving like Tiny Tim. Yeah, that's the vibe.

[Robin Hilton]

Tiptoe through the Tulips.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

What album do you want to play next, Hazel?

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, it's actually so scary.

[Robin Hilton]

All right.

[Lars Guttridge]

Also, is that the intro to the show?

[Hazel Sills]

When does the intro happen?

[Robin Hilton]

Are we doing it right? In 3, 2, 1? It's all songs considered. Hazel Sills, Lars Guttridge here. And this is an episode that I have wanted to do for a very long time.

[Hazel Sills]

Why have you always wanted to do this show?

[Robin Hilton]

Okay, well, I think Sunday mornings, right, there's no other time of the day that I think of music more than in the morning. And there's no morning I think of and music more than Sunday mornings.

[Lars Guttridge]

Why on Sunday mornings? Why not Saturday mornings?

[Robin Hilton]

Don't judge me, Lorz.

[Lars Guttridge]

What's wrong with Saturdays?

[Robin Hilton]

Are we doing the show about Sunday mornings or are we not doing the show about Sundays?

[Hazel Sills]

It's a different. I understand it. It is a different vibe. Cause I was thinking about this before the episode. Why do I think of certain music as being Sunday morning music versus, like, Saturday morning music? And I just think that, you know, for me, Sundays, there's sort of an element of unwinding to that day. I feel like maybe I'm getting over the chaos of my Saturday night, or I'm sort of preparing myself for the Sunday scaries that'll come later that day or I don't know. Basically, I feel like it is. I associate Sundays more so than Saturdays with a reset, or it's a day for me to prepare for the week ahead. And I think that thinking about it that way really influences the kind of music that I'm listening to on a Sunday morning.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, this is interesting because we're going to get into. I think we have. We all brought stuff to play, and I think we've got some categories, some of our own categories. And what we're listening to right now is this is Miles Davis is Kind of blue album, which is I would call one of my safeties.

[Lars Guttridge]

It's a Sunday standard.

[Robin Hilton]

It's a Sunday standard. Yeah, it is, it is. And, you know, I have a whole list of sort of no brainers that I would. I would play on Sunday. But, Hazel, why don't you just to start us off here and we'll take it from there?

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, Well, I want to play what I kind of feel like is a Sunday standard to me. And I feel like Lars might appreciate this pick, which is Astro Gilberto's album. The Astro Ghiberto album.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yes.

[Hazel Sills]

For me, it is an album that was constantly playing in my house growing up on Sunday morning. So I have this kind of nostalgic association with it, but I've kind of carried it into my adult life as being just an album that I'm constantly reaching for when I wake up in the morning. And I. I want to set the tone for my day.

[Elisa]

Once I loved and I gave so much love to this love it was the world to me Once I cried at the thought I was foolish and proud and let you say goodby Then one day from my infinite sadness you came and brought me love again. Now I know that no matter what ever befalls I'll never let you go I will hold you close.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I mean, it's hard to go wrong with this. Let me ask you, Hazel, since you brought up hearing this when you were growing up, do you grow up in a house where your parents were playing music in the morning and that imprinted on you 100%?

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, I grew up in a very musical household. My family didn't play instruments, you know, but there was always music playing in my house. And I feel like I've carried that over into my life now, where when I wake up in the morning or I'm at home, I do not like my house to be silent. Yeah, I always want music playing in my house. And there was always a sense of, you know, we're waking up, my parents are making breakfast for us, and we're all sort of not just hanging out, but having this communal experience, listening to music. And so, yeah, I hear this album and I think of, like, my dad making pancakes for me.

[Lars Guttridge]

That's good.

[Hazel Sills]

It was very. I know it sounds very like Rockwell, but, yeah, I just.

[Robin Hilton]

And then we went for a drive in the country.

[Hazel Sills]

Literally. Not my upbringing. My parents just really like music.

[Robin Hilton]

But, yeah, Lars knows why I'm asking this. Cause he and I were talking leading up to the show taping about how in my house, nobody Wants me to play music at all. And maybe they just. What? No, they hate it. They want silence in the morning. I'm not allowed to play anything in the morning. So all my listening, I do before they're up or I listen. I'm on headphones.

[Lars Guttridge]

In order to wake up my child. She has a playlist of songs that she likes. So, for instance, this morning I had to wake her up with the. Do you remember this mashup somebody did on Peanut Butter, Jelly Time and Turnstile a few years ago?

[Robin Hilton]

No, I don't.

[Lars Guttridge]

It's incredible. And Elisa, she was refusing to get out of bed, and I played that, and she was twitching her little feet.

[Robin Hilton]

Second here I'm. See if I can find this. Is this it?

[Lars Guttridge]

Well.

[Robin Hilton]

So what are you playing in the house, then, in the morning for your family? They're. They're cool with you playing music in the morning? Yeah. Generally Sunday morning. Yeah.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah. Like, I think for a long time. Kind of like. I think we're starting with. With our standards. So here's one of my standards. The reggae group the Congos. They released an album in 1977 called Heart of the Congos. It's generally considered a reggae masterpiece. It was produced by Lee Scratch. Perry has a lot of great musicians on it. And it sounds like waking up. Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

Wait a minute. That's not the song you wanted to play.

[Lars Guttridge]

But I did want to play that because it sounds like a yawn.

[Robin Hilton]

That does sound like a yawn. So that's Ark of the Covenant. But let's see. The cut you want to play is Fisherman, Fisherman. All right.

[Elisa]

Keep on rowing your mo Fish on Ro Lots of hungry belly.

[Robin Hilton]

Lots of.

[Elisa]

Hungry baby.

[Robin Hilton]

I'm down with this vibe. This is a good Sunday morning vibe.

[Lars Guttridge]

I kind of realized as I was kind of putting together stuff for the show, that I actually listened to a lot of reggae on Sunday mornings. I think that's just kind of like, where I go. It's helping me ease into the morning a bit. It's a little bleary, but it's bright at the same time. And especially like Lee Scratch Perry, he just knows how to pull a texture out of nowhere and turn it into something cosmic but grounded at the same time. I think that's maybe where I want to be on a Sunday morning.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. So if we're doing categories, this is your. This is your safety.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, this is my standard. This is the one. I. I think this record was next to my turntable for a year, and it was just kind of like, this is the thing. That I put on when I don't know what I want to put on.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, my son recently asked me why I get up so early. And he said, you know, nobody else is even up. Why would you get up so early when nobody's even up? And I said, you literally just answered your own question.

[Hazel Sills]

That's the point.

[Robin Hilton]

Exactly why I'm getting up when I do, because I love that alone time, you know? And there are lots of things that I love about Sunday mornings, and I do love it, and I cook for the family, and I love all that time, too. But there are a few things that I prize as much as time alone, just because I get so little of it. So this category. I'm going to call this category Alone At Last, and this is the sound of that for me. So I'm usually up by 5 most days, even on the weekends. It's just my favorite time of the day of the week. And this band, this is Madra Douce. Do you all know Madriduce?

[Lars Guttridge]

No.

[Hazel Sills]

No.

[Robin Hilton]

So Madra Douce, this is a band from Portugal. This album is called O Espirito de Paz. And this song is Tres Illuzois. This is a band that I discovered on NPR 30 years ago.

[Lars Guttridge]

Oh, wow.

[Robin Hilton]

30 years ago, just as a listener listening to NPR, all things considered did a profile of the band, and it was just so enchanting to me. You know, sometimes their music can get a little moodier, kind of drift into some minor keys, which is okay with me. In fact, I remember in the profile, I think it was in the introduction, they said they have haunting melodies. And I've never thought of them as haunting. It's mostly this.

[Lars Guttridge]

I have definitely found that when I was putting together stuff for the show, I was like, I guess I like voices on Sunday. I want somebody else to speak for me on a Sunday morning.

[Robin Hilton]

Panda. God. Thought you were gonna say, I guess I just don't like very good music. I guess I'm just not there.

[Hazel Sills]

I guess my taste is bad.

[Robin Hilton]

I guess my taste is bad. No, that's what my kids and wife are thinking. I guess Dad's doing, despite his job.

[Hazel Sills]

Robyn, we need to. Can we just, like, go back to the idea of your family needing silence? I'm really deeply disturbed by this reality for you.

[Robin Hilton]

So I didn't even have. I didn't even own a stereo until last year. I finally bought a turntable and a little console to put it on and got nice set of speakers, and I got out all my old vinyl, and I think maybe the kids will. You know they'll discover this. No, not having it. In fact I have put like at dinner time I've gone and put a record on and like can we just have a quiet please?

[Hazel Sills]

Can we just wait? So even like instrumental music where it's not like there's some and singing or it's something like this. It's very beautiful.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. No, no, no. It's a hard pass. I can't think of anything that they ever will let me play. So I only listen to stuff on speakers when everyone leaves. But alone at last. That's why my category is Alone at last. I can put on a little music. This singer is Teresa Salguero. She was just 17 years old when she started singing for this band. You know, I think it works for me. This music is not sad or super happy. It's sort of just the sound of being at peace with everything. To me.

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[Stephen Thompson]

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[Robin Hilton]

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[Lars Guttridge]

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[Robin Hilton]

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[Sponsor]

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Lagunitas Brewing Company. Since 1993, Lagunitas has been challenging the status quo, brewing innovative beer and crafting stories along the way. Featuring a wide range of craft brews, cult classics and non alcoholic options. There's a seat at the bar for everyone. Bring the dog to Laganitas Brewing Co. Because every great song deserves a great beer. It's good to have friends. Learn [e-mail] okay, real quick.

[Robin Hilton]

If you enjoy the show, as always, leave us a review on Apple or Spotify telling us how awesome it is or wherever you listen to podcasts, share this episode, tell a friend and keep listening. A little bit later we will continue our look back at our number one songs from across the years. All songs considered is 25 years old this year, and we are looking at a different year in each episode, Stephen Thompson and I, and we are going to do the year 2011. We're up to 2011 later on this episode, and we will also have your weekly reset.

[Lars Guttridge]

And if you hate the show, keep it to yourself.

[Robin Hilton]

We don't need beer. We get enough of that already. Hazel, we've come back around to you.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, well, I mean, it's interesting that, Lars, you mentioned you want vocals on Sunday mornings. I feel like when I was picking music for this episode, I realized that I kind of like both just instrumental music and vocalists. And the next album that I want to play is an album that I think, for me, really helps me wake up. Like, it really kind of embodies for me the feeling of my brain turning on, which is Laurie Spiegel's album, the Expanding Universe. Bleep, bloop.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yep.

[Hazel Sills]

Bleep, bleep, bleep. But don't you just. Don't you just, like, hear. I just feel like the way that this song builds and exp. I mean, literally, the album is called the Expanding Universe. Like, you know, Laurie Spiegel, this really incredible electronic composer. This album actually came out in 19, and then it was reissued in 2012, which is when I found it. And I just think the way that her algorithmic music just builds into this big, beautiful composition. It just. Every time I put this album on, I feel like I'm expanding. Like, I am. My brain is opening up. I am waking up. I'm ready to take on the day. There's just something about her music that just really kind of gets me going.

[Robin Hilton]

I love that. You said. Didn't you say it was the sound of your brain turning on?

[Hazel Sills]

Yes. I am the computer.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Hazel Sills]

I am the computer turning on.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. No, this sounds like Hazel, specifically Hazel. Sil's brain turning on to me. That's what this sounds like. Like click, and it's kind of whirring to life. So are you not a morning person? Do you need a lot of Runway or.

[Hazel Sills]

Oh, it's so funny that you say that, because I am very much a morning person, but I consider myself not a morning person by choice. I wake up, like, at 6, at 7. It's not as early as 5, but like, my whole life, very early riser. But I don't want to. I want to get more sleep.

[Robin Hilton]

I had you pegged.

[Hazel Sills]

I would like to sleep in more.

[Robin Hilton]

I had you pegged as a night owl. I just thought you go to shows and you Know, well, okay.

[Hazel Sills]

But I think part of the me being a morning or me being an early riser and not wanting to be is that I am also up late. So I'm, like, not getting. I'm, like, up late doing things at night, and then I go to bed and I, like, still wake up early.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Hazel Sills]

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not getting enough sleep, so.

[Robin Hilton]

Laurie Spiegel, the Expanding Universe. This song is called Patchwork. Yeah, this is a great pick.

[Lars Guttridge]

I have this record at home. I'm gonna have to try it in the morning. I think this has always been a nightmare time record for me.

[Robin Hilton]

Really? Yeah. That's so interesting. I think we're going to have a lot of those. Like, you've definitely got some pixlars that I think. Nah, man, that's Saturday. What are you doing? You were totally off.

[Lars Guttridge]

Well, maybe I know what you think my Saturday pick is, so I'll play that.

[Robin Hilton]

All right, let's see.

[Lars Guttridge]

Bad Operation.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lars Guttridge]

Okay, I'm going to go on the record and say that I don't like ska. I've not liked ska for my entire life. I had a ska phase that lasted from 1997 to 1998, and that was about it, you know? High school youth group, Five Iron Friends. He was the only scout.

[Robin Hilton]

Sounds like you're saying, like, I never inhaled.

[Hazel Sills]

It's okay, Lars.

[Robin Hilton]

We believe you.

[Lars Guttridge]

But in recent years, I've kind of come around to the idea of ska is great for people who love it. I've reassessed my relationship with ska. I still don't like to listen to it, but in 2020, there was this record by a New Orleans band called Bad Operation that just caught me off.

[Robin Hilton]

Never gonna be the same again I've got a past and I've been trying to escape if I can go back I think I'd change how I was made I stay consistent I can count on my mistakes now there's no easy.

[Lars Guttridge]

Their sound kind of harkens back to more like the special. So, like, late 70s, early 80s, instead of like the 90s pop punk version of ska that I have a hard time with. It's soulful. There's some great organ going on. This wakes me up. And I. I love all the songs. I purely chose this one because it has a breakfast food in the title. Bagel Brooks.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. I literally think my kids would throw their plate of food at you if you put this on in the morning. They could not get you to turn this off fast enough. I mean, it's not bad. But yeah, to me, this is like not only Saturday, but this is like early Saturday evening. Like, I'm just starting to go out.

[Lars Guttridge]

I absolutely hear you. I can understand why people. This is maybe like a going out music, and I have used it as going out music. The thing I like about this is that the vocalist Dominic Minix sounds like he's sleepy. He's soulful, but it's sleepy. It sounds like he's trying to wake up. He's trying to, you know, he's trying to, like, he's trying to rouse his soul a little bit. And he's got this great band behind him that's. It's very lean. There's only one horn in it, which I think maybe makes it more acceptable to me.

[Robin Hilton]

Too many hordes, too many horns. Too many horns. If you got this one, I'm in.

[Lars Guttridge]

But also that organ sound on the keyboard I think is crucial because that's the key element that makes me think of, okay, I'm going to church. You know, it's like I got the little word, I got the Leslie speakers maybe in there. It's like pounding my heart a little faster so I can get ready for whatever I need to do that Sunday. So this is why it is a Sunday morning album.

[Robin Hilton]

So what's the category?

[Lars Guttridge]

This is called. I just call it Pick It Up, Pick It Up, Pick It Up, Pick It Up.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, it's rousing. Yeah. This would be too much for me on a Sunday morning, but, like, I get it.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, this is maybe similar to a category I have which is just, it's gonna be a great day and life is beautiful. So many things I could pick for this category. I'm gonna go with this, though. This is django Reinhardt's album 1937. And the song is exactly like Yui did it with Stephane Grappelli. I feel like all I'm doing is ragging on my family, but my wife hates this so much.

[Lars Guttridge]

I feel like we're at a therapy session right now. I didn't really didn't expect that you.

[Hazel Sills]

Maybe you need the intervention.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, maybe I'm the one. She puts this under this catch all category she calls old timey, which is basically, she says, well, but for her, that's like anything before 1970 or so, you know, like, what is it with you and your whimsy? I think part of it is that there is just this air of nostalgia and remembrance and wistfulness kind of inherent to a Sunday morning. Especially if you like a chill, quiet, Solitary Sunday Morning. And I think it just makes sense that a lot of the stuff I gravitate towards would be something from a different time. Also, I think there's. Particularly with this. There's a kind of innocence in this music that's very sweet to me that it's very much the sound of a pre social media streaming, everything is awful era, you know, that we're kind of in.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, end times.

[Robin Hilton]

End times. Yeah, end times. It's pretty pre end times.

[Lars Guttridge]

They just didn't have the Internet.

[Robin Hilton]

Do you think if Django Reinhart, would he be so online?

[Lars Guttridge]

Yes, of course.

[Robin Hilton]

We could ask ChatGPT here.

[Hazel Sills]

No.

[Robin Hilton]

Would Django Reinhardt be so online?

[Hazel Sills]

No.

[Robin Hilton]

Anyway, should we talk some safeties? Do you have other ones? If we did a little. Just a quick rundown here since I mentioned some others, like Billie Holiday, the Complete Decade Recordings, totally would reach for that. Dave Brubeck's Take Five, I mean that's like. That's solid gold. Chet Baker, I think the best of Chet Baker sings hard to beat that. Nina Simone's anthology, Buena Vista Social Club.

[Lars Guttridge]

I got a couple that I think I could. So the self titled album by Jack Rose, the fingerstyle guitarist, and then this is kind of a hot tip. So Freddie Gibbs and Mad Lib put out a great record called Pinata that I would play on a Sunday morning. But if you need to be family friendly, there is a deluxe version of that album that has the instrumentals. And Mad Lib instrumentals are just perfect. If you need like a little groove for your Sunday morning, that's a great way to go.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, I definitely. I mean, I feel like mine are a little bit more recent. I mean, I feel like Broadcast is always a big safety for me. The noise made by people Stereo Lab is always big for me. Dots and loops, I feel like, is definitely more rousing than a lot of the stuff I'm playing on this episode, but is an album that I reach for a lot. The harpist Mary Lattimore, who I feel like I've played many times on All Songs Considered. Basically her whole discography, I feel like, is often a relaxing Sunday morning pick for me. But.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, well, what's something else we can play?

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, so I'll play something that I guess is kind of inspired by your alone time, Robin, your love for alone time, which is an album by an artist I really love named Tirzah, and it's her album Devotion.

[Elisa]

Be thinking of you even when you're gone what's keeping me from holding on? Ashamed to hold on maybe it's stupid on myself I'm hoping Cuz I want nothing else don't want to change, you don't want to change what you do to me.

[Robin Hilton]

So this isn't where I thought you were going when you started talking about alone time. Because there's something very, you know, that opening synth stab, it's a little. It's kind of startling. I feel like I kind of get it, but. But it's. To me, this is more like you're heading to. You're at brunch or something with friends or it's more of a. More communal.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, no, it's interesting because I. I was thinking about, you know, albums that I put on a Sunday morning, and Devotion is definitely one of them. And I feel like it's because it's such a beautiful, small, very intimate pop record. You know, Tirzah has this kind of light, airy vocal. And so much of the album is. It feels like I'm like in a closet with her and she's recording the album and I'm with her. And I don't know this song in particular. Holding On. It's kind of a sad song. You know, it's about why am I still holding on to someone that might not be in love with me or be interested in me. But there's kind of like this hope to it. There's this optimism to the music of the song, like, propulsive, you know, drumbeat and like the synths in it. And I think there's something about the way that she sings the song and the way that she sings about, you know, love. Introspection on this album where I feel like it has this reset energy that I looking for in a lot of Sunday morning music. This kind of like, sense of, well, maybe I don't know what's gonna happen today, but I will get through it.

[Robin Hilton]

Do you get the Sunday Blues or.

[Hazel Sills]

I get Sunday Scaries? Cause I hate my job.

[Lars Guttridge]

Wow. Breaking.

[Hazel Sills]

I'm kidding.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, I thought maybe that's just like. I always called it the Sunday Blues back in the. In the day, but it seems like people call it the Sunday Scaries now. I don't. I think it's changed.

[Hazel Sills]

I think what I feel on a Sunday. I feel like it's usually Sunday night where it's really not related to anything specific in the week. It's more just like, oh, my weekend is ending.

[Lars Guttridge]

And like, you're thinking of the week.

[Hazel Sills]

To come, the week to like, there's stuff that I have to do and, you know, and it's more like a sense of unease. So I don't know if it's blues, because I think blues, I'm like, I'm not sad.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, I think the idea of the Sunday blues comes about because Sundays tend to be very still and quiet. Stores are closed, people are home. It's very solitary for a lot of people. And so I think it just kind of bums some people out. My next category is actually I hope it rains and everything's canceled. It's a song by Margot Gurion called Sunday Morning actually from her album Take a Picture. And I think this song speaks a little bit to Sunday blues, but maybe kind of in a good way because it's all about that stillness on a Sunday.

[Elisa]

Sunday morning Sun shining from your eyes Sleepy face smiling into mine Sunday morning Lots of time with nothing to do Lots of time to spend with you On Sunday morning It's so quiet in the street we can hear the sound of happy walking back I'll put coffee on to poo we can have a cup or two and do what other people do on Sunday morning Sunday morning, Sunday morning, Sunday, Sunday. I love Sunday.

[Robin Hilton]

Sunday morning Lots of time with nothing to do Lots of time to spend with you. You know, she sings about the quiet streets. I mean, is that a feature or a bug? To me it's a feature, but I.

[Hazel Sills]

Feel like this song sounds so sunny to me. And your category is I hope it rains and everything gets canceled.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, that's because it's a good time for me, you know, it does feel good to me, you know.

[Hazel Sills]

So when it rains in real life and things get canceled, you're sunny.

[Robin Hilton]

Woo.

[Hazel Sills]

Hoop.

[Sponsor]

It's like, yay.

[Lars Guttridge]

I don't have to interact with the world.

[Hazel Sills]

Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it.

[Robin Hilton]

It's kind of the same thing as, like, I mean, never getting time alone. I feel like every moment of my life is booked, you know? So when Sunday comes, I really just want to clear the boards, you know, if something's scheduled, I hope it's canceled. And if we need a downpour for that to happen, then that's fine.

[Lars Guttridge]

But you know, the universe was smiling on you that day.

[Robin Hilton]

Sunday morning. You think the best of all the mornings in a week. The best morning of the week.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah.

[Hazel Sills]

I feel like it's the only day where a morning feels significant. I don't know.

[Lars Guttridge]

Oh, yeah. Saturday mornings, I'm usually. That's like my recoup day. Like basically it's kind of like I'm. I'm kind of exhausted from the week. I usually need the whole morning, maybe even part of the afternoon before I do anything of significance. Yeah, I guess on Sundays maybe it's a little more. There's a little bit more room.

[Robin Hilton]

I thought for sure you'd both argue for Saturday. Yeah, I'm a big Sunday morning.

[Hazel Sills]

I just don't know if I'm thinking about my Saturday. I don't know.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, how about worst morning? I don't think it's Monday.

[Lars Guttridge]

I don't think it's Monday. It might be Wednesday.

[Robin Hilton]

Why Wednesday?

[Lars Guttridge]

I don't know. That's just what came to mind.

[Robin Hilton]

You just thought, I don't like Wednesdays. Wednesdays are out.

[Hazel Sills]

Well, I feel like it's Tuesday morning.

[Robin Hilton]

It is Tuesday. I think that. Yeah, yeah.

[Hazel Sills]

I feel like Monday morning everyone is a little slow and like is also gearing up for the week. And then Tuesday morning everyone is like fully in. We are in week. We are in the main week mode. And then Wednesday morning you can be like, well, we're like halfway done, basically. Halfway done the week. Thursday morning, you're even closer to the weekend. Friday morning, amazing. It's Friday, so I feel like Tuesday morning is like the real beginning morning of the week.

[Lars Guttridge]

It's the, it only Tuesday of Tuesdays.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, right, Exactly. It only Tuesdays. Tuesday is the meme that explains what I'm talking about.

[Robin Hilton]

So in that Onion, that's that Onion story, that headline, there's a great moment in the story where they say something like a slack jawed nation realized in horror that they were actually closer to the previous weekend than they are to the next weekend.

[Hazel Sills]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

But I agree. Yeah, it's Tuesday. Tuesday. Because Monday you're also, if you're not all groggy and kind of easing into things, you've maybe you're trying like, all right, we're going to do this. It's going to be fine. We got this week and then Tuesday it's like, oh, God, no, this is really happening.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, you're in it. You're in it.

[Robin Hilton]

There's no pretending anymore.

[Sponsor]

Support for NPR and the following message come from LinkedIn ads. One of the hardest parts about B2B marketing is reaching the right audience. When you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals. Target buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority, skills, company revenue, all the professionals you need to reach in one place. Get a $100 credit on your next campaign. Just go to LinkedIn.com allsongs Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads. This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify. Start selling with Shopify today. Whether you're a garage entrepreneur or IPO ready, Shopify's the only tool you need to start, run and grow your business without the struggle. Go to shopify.com NPR well, Lars, I.

[Robin Hilton]

Know you're a foodie. We've talked about it on the show before. And one of the reasons why I asked you to come on this show, I think I even said to you, I bet you're a Sunday morning music expert. And you said, yeah, I think I probably am, because I know that you're like, cooking in the morning for your family.

[Lars Guttridge]

Oh, yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

All the different. Yeah, yeah.

[Lars Guttridge]

So my next category is called Minding My Grits, which works both ways. So there's mining my grits, which is the saying where I'm not paying attention to the world, I'm just, I'm in my own right. And then there's actually minding a pot of grits, which is something that I enjoy to do. If you've never made grits, 5 parts water, 1 cup grits, let it sit overnight, cover it with a towel or something, and then in the morning, put it all in a pot, bring it to a boil, and then let it simmer until it's nice and goopy the way that you like it. Add butter, cheese, salt and pepper here and there. I'm adding cheese later in the process. Chunks. And I'm Are we talking music at.

[Robin Hilton]

Some point in this?

[Hazel Sills]

No, we're not.

[Lars Guttridge]

No. Yeah. On Sunday mornings, I love to make food for my family and I love to listen to music. And so I'm going to bring y'all heathens to church, and I'm gonna play a little bit of gospel music.

[Elisa]

I.

[Lars Guttridge]

This is Ishmaan Williams and the Williams Singers. The song is the Old Ship of Zion. This comes from Alan Lomax's Southern Journey, 1959-1960. The name of this particular compilation is called Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long, which I love. I think I chose this album specifically for that title. Yeah, because it's like, hey, I've been worried all week long. I won't be worried long. I highly recommend any of these compilations that came out. Alan Lomax was a folklorist and an archivist. He went around the United States and Great Britain and all over the world to record the folk songs of just the people hanging out in churches and in backyards and front stoops and everything else. And what I like, especially about these recordings Is that they take me to the past, but they feel incredibly present. And so when I'm in kind of like a reflective mode, as I usually am, especially because I'm minding my grits, I like to be in that space. I'm preparing my soul for the week. And I'm also preparing my soul because I'm trying to get my kid to get ready for church.

[Hazel Sills]

You have fun Sunday mornings? I think so is what I'm getting from your music choices.

[Lars Guttridge]

I'm trying.

[Robin Hilton]

You don't want to hang out at.

[Hazel Sills]

My house in your silent Quaker home. Nobody make any noise.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, everybody. Everybody just sits until somebody has something to say. That's the quicker way.

[Robin Hilton]

Who is this person and why is she in our house? Hazel. I've mentioned Hazel. No, you haven't. Well, this sounds really incredible, actually. This is so this. I mean, he was making a lot of these recordings on a reel to reel machine that he was toting around with.

[Lars Guttridge]

Lugging around America. Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

And this was made like between 59 and 60.

[Lars Guttridge]

59 and 60.

[Robin Hilton]

Sounds incredible.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, like I said, all five compilations are incredible. There's a book about the Southern Journey recordings that he made that I highly recommend. I can't speak enough praises about this series.

[Robin Hilton]

All right, I think we all have one more that we want to play and Hazelwurt, back to you.

[Hazel Sills]

So I feel like for the most part on Sunday mornings, I do not want intense music. I don't want loud rock music. I don't want something that is like too energetic. I want to wake up and I want something that's going to arouse me slowly. But I do think that sometimes I want to reach for something that is a little bit more energetic. But it's not like I'm playing like house music really loud in the morning at my home. So an album that I often play on Sunday mornings is I feel like a really incredible contained rock album, which is the Power out by the band Electrolane.

[Lars Guttridge]

Ah, great record.

[Hazel Sills]

And I want to play the song Gone Under Sea.

[Lars Guttridge]

I couldn't help but notice with your picks that a lot of the songs that you chose are side one track ones. And so I was curious how crucial that first song is to your Sunday morning.

[Robin Hilton]

It's just all the further she gets. It's that her attention span just can't allow her to get past. It's like one and done.

[Hazel Sills]

I feel like it is pretty crucial to me. I don't know. I think it is crucial because it's like I think I'm often reaching for albums that build in a certain way. And I think, like, this is a really good example of a song that. Those first notes, it's like. You know, I keep talking about these songs like they're waking up, but I honestly think that's the music that I'm reaching for on a Sunday is, like, music that mirrors what's happening to me in my brain, in my body, which is like, getting ready for the day and sort of opening myself up to the day. But obviously, it's like the whole album has to matter as well. Like, I'm listening to the whole thing, but.

[Robin Hilton]

Cause if you haven't put together a playlist, you don't want to mess with having to switch an album around or whatever you put it on. You need to be able to live with the full album. Here's my hot take. You know how we were saying, like, jazz is good safety. Right. You can always rely on that. Sunday morning, I think. Anything in French.

[Lars Guttridge]

Anything in French.

[Robin Hilton]

Anything in French, Portuguese, Spanish, maybe some Italian.

[Hazel Sills]

No, I mean, I feel like music in those languages, like, there's a very, very wide. I could be waking up playing Bad Bunny.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay.

[Hazel Sills]

Rosalia Motomami in the morning.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay, I can't get Moto Mami.

[Hazel Sills]

I'm not Moto Mami in the morning.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, that's way too early for Rosalia.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Hazel Sills]

Playing Daft Punk. And they don't sing in French.

[Lars Guttridge]

You know, I think I've actually used Daft Punk for a morning just to kind of, like, I need to wake up.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, this one, I think it straddles the worlds of pop and jazz nicely.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah. There's a. There's, like, a restlessness to it. There's, like, a jazzy sensibility to it, for sure.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay, Lars, I know you've got one more.

[Lars Guttridge]

We're gonna go into the heart of love. There's a duo from the UK called Woo.

[Robin Hilton]

Woo or Loo.

[Lars Guttridge]

Woo with the Woo.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay.

[Lars Guttridge]

W O. Oh, like woo.

[Robin Hilton]

Like, I'm Woo.

[Lars Guttridge]

To woo somebody to woo somebody.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Lars Guttridge]

That's a good way to put it. Yeah. They've been around since the 80s. They're still going, but they put out a record, put out a tape in 1988 called into the Heart of Love. And I am grouping this one under Everything's still wobbly, but it's bright.

[Elisa]

Take me home, my friend, Be with me, make me tea Take me home, my friend Be with me Make Take me tea Take me to the place.

[Robin Hilton]

You love.

[Elisa]

And I will love it, too. Sing to me your favorite song.

[Robin Hilton]

And.

[Elisa]

I will sing along with you.

[Robin Hilton]

You telling me this wouldn't be a thousand times better in French? You don't hear it. Or Portuguese or.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, I could hear a little breathy French, especially from the female vocal.

[Robin Hilton]

It's very sweet though. I love those harmonies.

[Lars Guttridge]

I mean, they have these little cute little songs, but most of their music is instrumental and it kind of crosses boundaries between New age and jazz and ambient music. But every now and again they'll have these little moments like make me tea. I am a tea drinker. I don't do caffeine very well, so coffee's way too much. And if I love you, if you are a friend of mine I'm going to make you a cup of tea.

[Hazel Sills]

Yeah, making tea for someone or having someone make tea for you is a very intimate act to me. And I don't know if that's because I am a coffee drinker. And so I associate making tea or having with like an end of the night thing or it's kind of like there's like a medicinal property to it or it's, you know, someone's sick and I'm making them tea. There's a lot tied up for me. I feel like emotionally in someone making me tea or making tea for someone.

[Robin Hilton]

I tried to be a tea drinker once. It didn't go well.

[Lars Guttridge]

It was just hot brown water.

[Robin Hilton]

No, I mean there was Teism or What's that, that DC shop.

[Lars Guttridge]

T is a great, great shop.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I would go and I'd pick out the. I loved all the stuff because I think that's one thing. What you're saying, it's a ritual. It is a little more of a ritual than making a cup of coffee. Unless maybe you're doing a French press or a pour over or something like that.

[Lars Guttridge]

But I'll just have to make you a non leaf tea. I'll make you a floral tea instead of robins.

[Robin Hilton]

Quite lovely. But that would require going to your house, right? Yeah, it's not happening.

[Lars Guttridge]

Where there's music playing, where there's music and I'm making pancakes or grits.

[Hazel Sills]

Oh, so awful.

[Lars Guttridge]

So terrible.

[Robin Hilton]

Do you guys remember this scene from the movie Old School? You're mistaken. Me? That's my friend Mitch.

[Lars Guttridge]

He owns the house.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay.

[Hazel Sills]

Anyway.

[Robin Hilton]

Yo, Matt, come hit this right here. You need to hit this. Oh, yeah, hit that. No, I appreciate it, but I told my wife I wouldn't drink tonight. Besides, I got a big gig tomorrow. But you guys have a great time, a big day. Doing what? Well, actually pretty nice little Saturday, we're gonna go to Home Depot. Yeah. Buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time. This movie, it's more than 20 years old now, and my wife and I still quote it literally every weekend. Specifically the line, I don't know. I don't know if we're gonna have enough time. Or the other one we use all the time is, oh, we've got a pretty sweet weekend, actually. So I'm going to call this category might hit the Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don't know if we're going to have enough time.

[Elisa]

Sa.

[Robin Hilton]

This is the song so Flute from the album Tourist. It came out in the year 2000, not long before the movie Old School. Are you two old enough that, like, you would have been going to brunch parties or things like that in 2000? 2001, Hazel? Probably.

[Hazel Sills]

No, I am anti brunch as a New Yorker. So.

[Robin Hilton]

What?

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, I feel you.

[Robin Hilton]

Brunch. Oh, crap.

[Lars Guttridge]

I need breakfast. Not brunch.

[Hazel Sills]

Lars and I are on exactly the same page. No, brunch in New York is like its own health hellscape. It is a level of Dante's Inferno.

[Robin Hilton]

Maybe it's a D.C. thing.

[Hazel Sills]

Maybe in D.C. it's more chill. New York.

[Lars Guttridge]

No, it's New York's like New York City.

[Hazel Sills]

Okay.

[Robin Hilton]

Come on. Oh, no. I live for brunch. It is for brunch 100%.

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, like going out for brunch or making it.

[Robin Hilton]

I would prefer to go out, and I would prefer it to be an all you can eat buffet.

[Hazel Sills]

Wow. Whoa. Okay.

[Lars Guttridge]

Okay. All right. That's a move, Captain.

[Robin Hilton]

I am shocked. I mean, all the speechless.

[Hazel Sills]

Well, I'm actually shocked that you love brunch, like, everything about you, because I just think of it as, like, brunch is like breakfast, but nightclub. To me, like, the energy is.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay, well, so here you go. Well, if you had gone to brunch or any restaurant that was serving brunch or gotten together with friends for a brunch in the year 2000. 2000. 2001. You would have heard this album Tourist from St. Germain. It was everywhere. And in fact, or dinner parties, it was. Very frequently it would turn up at friends. Like, you'd go over to a friend's house. This would be on because it was so safe to play. Yes, it's very safe for all of those environments. I almost didn't play it because I Thought, you know, it was so overplayed at the time that it became a cliche.

[Hazel Sills]

I think this is going to be cool again. Again.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Lars Guttridge]

I mean, we're bringing it back.

[Robin Hilton]

I'm gonna bring it back 20, 25 years. It's a long time. So I thought maybe it's fair. We can hit reset. They're probably. There are grown adults on the planet now who weren't alive when this came out. But yeah, Tourist Saint Germain. Have you heard of Saint Germaine?

[Lars Guttridge]

Yeah, yeah. It was a. I was just about to go to college when this record came out, so it got played on our. On my college radio station, so might.

[Robin Hilton]

Hit the Home Depot Bed, Bath and Beyond. I don't know if there's going to be enough time. This is so many. The world is our oyster. So many riches to discover on these errands. I don't know about you all, but I had a playlist a mile long with all the stuff that we could have played on the show for Sunday mornings. I actually had an easier time with this than coming up with songs to calm the nerves or just about any other theme show that we've done. I imagine you all have a bunch of others, too. So we'll put together an expanded playlist, Sunday morning playlist, full versions of everything that we featured here, and then a bunch of other stuff. If people search for NPR music in Apple or Spotify, they will find it, but we'll go out on this. Hazel Sills, Lars Gottrich, thanks so much as always.

[Hazel Sills]

Thank you. Bye Bye.

[Robin Hilton]

All right. And keep listening here. Stephen Thompson and I will have our little look at our number one songs from 2011. That's coming right up along with your weekly reset. All right, As I mentioned, we're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year by looking back at the number one songs from each year of the show. Stephen, welcome back to the Nostalgia Train.

[Stephen Thompson]

Choo choo.

[Robin Hilton]

Choo, choo. Robyn, we're up to 2011, and we're looking back at the songs that stand out most to us from those years, both personally and for all songs considered. And what do you think of when you think of 2011?

[Stephen Thompson]

I'm gonna give you 10 seconds of one song.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay.

[Stephen Thompson]

And then I'm gonna play a different song.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay. Is my 10 seconds up?

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah, I think it is. What's the dance song?

[Robin Hilton]

I have no idea.

[Stephen Thompson]

That is We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris song. I think arguably the song. There certainly have been others along the way. Kelly Clarkson had some songs, but a song that woke My ass up to pop music.

[Robin Hilton]

You know, one advantage you have in that whole world over me is you listen to the radio. Like, FM radio in the car, driving around, and I never, ever have the radio on, and so I miss so much of it. And I'm only starting to tune into more of it now as my kids get older and they're trafficking it into the house, you know? But this was one that I had totally missed.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, my gosh, Robin. It is such a banger.

[Robin Hilton]

But it sounds to me like you were gonna try to cheat and do two songs.

[Stephen Thompson]

I'm always trying to cheat and do so.

[Robin Hilton]

Okay, well, what was. What's the second? Since I totally whiffed that one. What's the.

[Stephen Thompson]

This one you're likelier to get? Because I think it more speaks the language of a lot of the music that we have played and celebrated on All Songs Considered over the years, and.

[Robin Hilton]

I've gone so far in my travels. Is this Jens Lechman?

[Stephen Thompson]

No.

[Robin Hilton]

I know this voice so well.

[Elisa]

Water.

[Stephen Thompson]

I give King Creosote and John Hopkins, they put out this record.

[Robin Hilton]

I know how much you love this album. Oh, my gosh.

[Stephen Thompson]

This record. It's called Most appropriately named album Diamond Mine. Yeah, it is just a. It is just a feast of shimmering beauty. Yeah. John Hopkins, the electronic musician, he's. He's been making gorgeous ambient music and kind of edm and, you know, he's. He's been working in that space for years and years and doing tons of beautiful stuff. King Creosote is a Scottish singer songwriter, very prolific Scottish singer songwriter, and they made this one perfect record together in 2011. It was my favorite album of the year. It was Bob Boylan's favorite album of the year. It was one of Tom Huizenga's favorite albums. One of the Cart's favorite albums of the year. This record reached across the NPR Music team, where we couldn't agree on anything except for the sheer perfection of this perfect jewel of a record. It is so, so beautiful. And just sitting here listening to. To it while you're going, what is it?

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, no, I don't know what to do.

[Stephen Thompson]

I'm just sitting here, like, feeling my blood pressure lowering and lowering and lowering because this perfect voice is taking me back.

[Robin Hilton]

I had an obstacle to falling in love with this as much as everyone else, because Bob liked it. It was totally. It's a hard pass, but no, I totally remember how much you loved it, and everyone else loved it too, but I had really fallen for John Hopkins solo music, and it was his electronic stuff. And, like, he had this album called Insides that had come out.

[Stephen Thompson]

That's such a good record.

[Robin Hilton]

Incredible. But it's so abrasive compared to this. When I saw John Hopkins name and next to an album title, that's what I was hoping to hear. And then I heard this completely different thing and. But there's. They're so profound. Perfect together. They really are.

[Stephen Thompson]

It is such a beautiful combination of sensibilities. But 2011, honestly, was just a great year for music. There was great pop music. There was great folk music. There was. I mean, the Decemberists put out what I think is the best Decemberists song. June hymn. Wy Oak put out Civilian that year, which is just an absolute powerhouse of a record. One of your favorite songs of all time, Helplessness Blues by the Fleet Foxes.

[Robin Hilton]

I thought about that.

[Stephen Thompson]

2011.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I almost picked that. You didn't. Speaking of big pop songs, you didn't mention Adele.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Robin Hilton]

And someone like you came out that year. But here's what I'm gonna pick as my number one song for 2011. And unlike the things that you've played for me, you will 100% get this almost immediately.

[Lars Guttridge]

All right.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, my Gosh, was this 20? I always think of this song as 20. This is somebody that I used to know. Featuring Kimbra by Gautier.

[Robin Hilton]

Like when you said you felt so.

[Elisa]

Happy you could die.

[Robin Hilton]

Told myself that.

[Elisa]

You were right for me but felt so lonely in your company but that was Lover to make us still remember.

[Robin Hilton]

We've talked about this with some of the other bands and artists who have left huge imprints on us over the years and then haven't done much. Gauthier, still, one of the most insanely infectious songs of all time came out in 2011 on the album Making Mirrors. He's put out nothing since then.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah, he's really. He's really kind of disappeared back into the woodwork. And it's not like, oh, his records aren't connecting with people. He's just kind of stepped back from music. And there have been these hints that he might come back. I was just writing about this song recently because this song is back on the. On the pop charts because Dochi has the song anxiety that interpolates this song.

[Robin Hilton]

Right.

[Lars Guttridge]

And.

[Stephen Thompson]

And, like. And that's been turned out to be Dochi's biggest hit so far. And so all of a sudden, people are hearing that, and not only does it have the absolute ball of charisma that is Dochi attached to it, but it. It's it's triggering people's nostalgia for this song where people are hearing it and are like, man, you know what song? I loved that one.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

You know, because this song, if you were around in 2011 and especially 2012, when this song was all over radio playlists, you could not escape it. It was one of the three songs that were on the radio. And when we talk about 2012, we'll talk about a couple of the other songs that were a part of that, of that mix. But it's a great song, man.

[Robin Hilton]

It is absolute perfection. And we'll go out on this. Until next time. Thank you, Stephen.

[Stephen Thompson]

Thank you, Robin.

[Robin Hilton]

And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's All SONGS considered.

[Elisa]

It was always something that I done, but I don't want to live that way. We didn't learn to. Every word you say, you said that you could let it go and I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody.

[Robin Hilton]

That you used to know.

[Elisa]

It.

[Sponsor]

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