‘Emertainment Monthly’s’ Ultimate Snowstorm Playlist

Anna Marketti ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

You can stop looking at your email. It’s real- school is closed. And it feels just as good as it did in elementary school. So while you’re busy gathering your fuzziest blanket, choice mug and hot chocolate mix (Swiss Miss, no doubt), and shoving your homework further into the depths of your backpack, put on this playlist to score your day off and hopefully warm you up a little.

“A Hazy Shade Of Winter” – Simon and Garfunkel

Typically, I associate the dynamic duo as a springtime sort of group, but they have some hidden wintry gems. Implied in the title, this tune picks up like the blustery January winds and is full of undulating harmonies that could melt any snowman’s heart.

“Fairytale Lullaby” – Bombay Bicycle Club

This lighthearted song captures all the magic and mystery that twinkles in a child’s eye as they watch the glittering freshly fallen snow.

“Winter ’05” – Ra Ra Riot

Throwing some much needed viola into the mix, indie pop group Ra Ra Riot adds a touch of bittersweetness to your icy day. Confining many indoors, winter is a time of reflection in many peoples’ lives- and reflection often leads to pining for someone special’s warm embrace.

“It Was A Very Hard Year” – Kal Marks

Local melancholy melody makers Kal Marks bring your mood down even further with this sobering track. Hey, snow is cold, being cold makes people sad. A touch of aggression in the otherwise lethargic vocals, Kal Marks ignites a spark.

“November Was White, December Was Grey” – Say Hi

“I’ll feel better when the winter’s gone.” Say Hi says it all in this hopeful anthem for seasonal affective disorder.

“Holocene” – Bon Iver

Who doesn’t immediately think winter when they hear Bon Iver? Hailing from northern Wisconsin, Justin Vernon has come to know all things winter, and provides some delightful chills with his piercing, layered vocals and twinkling guitar.

“Wake Up, Little Sparrow” – Devendra Banhart

Devendra Banhart has dabbled all over the genre spectrum, producing funky, bass-laden tracks alongside more mellow tracks tapping into his Venezuelan roots and singing entirely in Spanish. “Wake Up, Little Sparrow” urges a bird- and perhaps the listener- to not make their home out in the snow, but rather somewhere further south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8v0bfrcS6o

“Baby Blue” – King Krule

Owner of the richest, fullest deep velvet voice in all of England, Archy Marshall is here to royally chill you to the bone with this uncharacteristically upbeat song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvP7sZWvyrg

“Sleep In” – Skinny Bones

Jamaica Plain natives Skinny Bones provide us the song that speaks our innermost desire on days like these- sleeping in. A tad on the unsettling side with the tactful dissonance and twangy syncopation, singer Jacob Rosati’s unique vocals layer on the black ice.

“Sweet Sweet” – Smashing Pumpkins

Leave it to alt-rock icons the Smashing Pumpkins to lighten the mood, with a simple but sweet sort of interlude. You know the way snow can sometimes resemble sugar? Yeah, that’s this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRXWt81DHaU

“Christmas Lights” – Paul Baribeau

I know Christmas is over, but that doesn’t mean this choice track isn’t wholly appropriate. Perfectly encapsulating a college student’s winter break experience, Paul Baribeau’s honest, spitfire lyrics stumble over themselves at times to illustrate that sort of lonely feeling that can wash over you on the snowiest of days.

“Michigan” – The Milk Carton Kids

Did you know the Midwest can get smacked with similarly harsh winters as the Northeast, especially the states up furthest north- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan…eh? With delicately plucked guitar and heartwarming harmonies, this folk duo- ironically from California- provides a melancholy lament set in the mitten state.

“Flightless Bird, American Mouth” – Iron & Wine

No band can go directly from breaking your heart to filling it with warm fuzzies and straight back to breaking it as quickly as Iron & Wine can. This Twilight soundtrack choice (I know…I know…) builds as steadily as the flakes falling outside your window, transforming from a sad, bare bones ballad into a freshly risen phoenix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iuFJ5P9ung

 “Horn” –Nick Drake

There was a moment before winter break, I think it was one of the first days it snowed that winter in Boston, when my roommate came home, and we were both looking out the window, watching the snow swirl in the orange and yellow light from the Paramount sign when this song came on, and we were just silent, and it felt purely, truly magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYrKOzxqMxY

“Warmest Part Of The Winter” –Voxtrot

Come inside, wrap yourself in that blanket, and curl up with that hot chocolate, because it’s okay if this song makes you cry. Or maybe that’s just me?