lovingkindness: soundtrack to the summer

When I loaded up my computer and ipod for the trip I knew I wouldn’t have space on this computer to bring all of my music. I was also in the mood for some new tunes. So I took a bunch of music from my roommate and a friend. It was a pretty small selection of music to start with and what I have actually listened to on a regular basis is an even smaller listing. This list is the soundtrack to my summer. There have been plenty of other tunes floating around this house but these are the songs I listened to the most.

These songs also evoke memories of the trip so far. On the drive back from Malindi through the lush green countryside, the window of the bus open and the wind loudly blowing around me while vast fields rushed by, I listened to Junip. Grace Potter and Rachel Yamagata remind me of working out on the roof with Katie, the women in the house behind us lined up in their chairs on their roof confusedly watching us work on our buns, guts and thighs and use water bottles for weights as we tried to kill more time after our runs to keep ourselves from stuffing our faces before dinner came. The National and Bowerbirds songs will remind me of sitting on the balcony reading or journaling or drawing in the afternoons. Bon Iver reminds me of sitting on the roof with Elizabeth’s boyfriend’s pink pig guitar playing and singing. And Colin Meloy told me that “you must bear your neighbor’s burden within reason” at times when I needed that life lesson reminder in that crazy house of girls.

Bon Iver – Skinny Love

Rilo Kiley – Silver Lining

Camille – Mon petite vieux

The Decemberists – Don’t Carry it All

The Decemberists – January Hymn

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – Paris (ooh la la)

The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

Bon Iver – Blindsided

The National – England

Rachael Yamagata – 1963

Junip – Black Refuge

Bowerbirds – Northern Lights