Need a break from all that revision and essay stress? Can’t sleep? Well… I must have a playlist for everything, whether it’s for walking to university, getting the perfect songs together to help me through an essay and even when I’m relaxing and trying to sleep. This playlist is one I’ve compiled with some gorgeously comforting songs to listen to when you want to wind down and eventually drift off to. I’ve embedded my Spotify playlist below and also written a bit about some of my favourites on the list too…
Quite possibly my favourite Damien Rice songs as it is typically emotionally provoking and can, quite obviously, make me cry very easily sometimes; particularly in love with the lyrics to this one
For people who don’t know much about Peace apart from their image and sing-along indie anthems such as Lovesick, this is something very different; personally for me, this is a gorgeously dreamy ballad and a song that instantly puts me at ease when I need to chill out from uni stress (it’s also pretty damn good when performed live)
I would say this is my favourite Ben Howard song; there’s just something about the lyrics to this that really touch me and when in a very low mood, can make me cry within the first few seconds… the climax to this song is glorious
Hourglass by Catfish and the Bottlemen
One of my favourite bands at the moment, and possibly my favourite (lyrically) from their debut album; it’s short, it ends fairly abruptly, but the melody and the vocals are some of the band’s best; for a band who are quite loud and boisterous, this song can change your mood very quickly
This song is simply that stunning of a cover, it takes you a long time on your first listen to realise it’s a cover and not actually an original song of Alt-J’s, breathtakingly different and a personal favourite of their second album
This song partly helped me through my exams both in secondary school and sixth form – it’s a wonderfully melancholic piano melody that you can easily have on repeat for hours and not find it boring; it helps when trying to focus on that particularly difficult chunk of essay or when you simply can’t wind down from a long, busy day
I remember hearing this during a Waterloo Road episode once and being completely struck; the harmonies, as always with Kings of Convenience, are beautifully haunting and this song can really relax you even when you’re in the most tense mood possible – one of my favourite songs that I always go back to when I need a break and de-stress
I always like to end playlists like this one on Champagne Supernova; while Oasis is a cliché choice for most playlists in general, this song is perfect, particularly for when you want to sleep. As a teenager, the water and wave sound effects at the beginning and end of the song would help me drift off to sleep very easily, and with it being a classic of Oasis’s back catalogue, it’s only right I include it
Take a listen here:
Words (and playlist) by Kirstie Sutherland
