Brain Candy: A Playlist

“...A strange art – music – the most poetic and precise of all the arts, vague as a dream and precise as algebra.” (Guy de Maupassant)

Music is a strange art. It provokes thoughts and feelings that are hard to articulate. And like Guy de Maupassant describes: music is paradoxical, it’s both vague and precise. I find this mysterious tension alluring. I don’t like things to feel flat. Music, films, literature, and people (especially people!) are more interesting when composed of different notes: some high and some low.

We pressure ourselves to define art so that it’s easier to understand. And we feel the need to make art that’s useful somehow. Even something as simple as a playlist will likely get more listeners if its title and description are clear. People want to know how and why they should listen. But I find that stifling. With my recent playlist, “Brain Candy,” I was craving an endorphin rush, but there’s usually a consequence when you rush into things. After a surge of pleasure, there is often pain. And sometimes these feelings are intertwined. It’s hard to describe, but you know when it’s happening. So how do I explain this to my listeners? I’m not sure I can. But I went with “vigorous relaxation,” although, I don’t think this vague oxymoron is doing me any favors.

Björk

These days it seems like pleasure and pain are in constant competition. On Instagram, we’re bombarded with conflicting feelings. We can go from pictures of adorable puppies to pictures of people dying within seconds. It’s disturbing, and yet we keep coming back for more. Similarly, there are moments during this playlist where a song will feel challenging, and I’m tempted to skip to the next song, but I don’t. I know in a second the pleasurable feeling will rush back, just like with my Instagram feed. I don’t really understand why I like to ride this emotional seesaw, but I do, and music has the power to elicit these paradoxical feelings and reflect them back at me. What strange art.

Follow my playlist on Spotify