Waiting in line for things is an underrated experience. Or more accurately: a lost art.
Think back to your pre-phone life. What did you do while waiting in line for a train, or an amusement park ride, or anything at a government office?
It’s hard to remember, but I bet you can do it. What did you do? Here are some of the ways I used to pass the time while in line:
- Counting ceiling tiles
- Inventing names for the other people in line
- Trying to name all the teams in [insert pro sports league here]
- Holding my breath while trying to not make it obvious I was holding my breath
- Staring at nothing in particular
- Looking at a clock, or my watch, then trying to count a minute as accurately as possible
In other words, waiting in line was mindfulness before mindfulness was invented. To wait in line without a dopamine machine is to narrow your focus to the details of your immediate surroundings. There’s you, the back of the person in front of you, and the eventual goal in the distance.
Zero 7’s music – the evolutionary endpoint of music’s late-90s downtempo branch that started with Portishead and grew through Sneaker Pimps and Air – is perfect line-waiting music.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The chords hold steady for most of the song, with slight but uplifting variations in the pre-chorus; the moment when everyone in line suddenly shuffles forward one spot.
2. All the background synth sweeps hint at the world outside the song, but those four chords keep you locked in the song.
3. Before re-listening to this track for this post, I wouldn’t have remembered it for its vocal harmonies. But the sea of overdubs by vocalist Sophie Barker is soothingly impressive.
Recommended listening activity:
Making your own list of waiting-in-line pastimes.