When we’re sad, many of us turn to music to help us feel better.
Not exactly a ground-breaking statement, I know.
But sadness has so many causes, varies so much in intensity, and comes in so many shapes and shades, that there’s no single musical remedy for feeling down. The best musical medicine acknowledges and validates your sadness, allows you to wallow for a moment, and then gives you a little push back on to your feet. So let’s look at which music pairs the best with which kind of melancholy:
If that last type of sadness resonates with you, I’d like to argue that this wonderful track by Bassti – this whole EP, in fact, is your best bet.
Whatmakes this a beautiful song:
1. Like a vague, unexplainable sadness, it begins with confusion.The 6/8 time signature of the sample is jarringly contradicted by the slow,heavy, 4/4 beat that comes in at 0:25.
2. The source of sadness is unclear. Bassti is sampling “Pisces” by Rebecka Reinhard (a beautiful song in its own right), but he uses only the first few lyrical lines. Whereas Reinhard’s original song completes the story and ends optimistically, Bassti leaves us wondering what happened to make the singer stop dreaming about love.
3. It’s brief. Just like most bouts of generalized sadness, it’sfleeting and ephemeral, over before you can fully digest it.
Recommended listening activity:
Hugging a pillow and gazing into the middle distance.