fall 2019 mix
about 4 or 5 years ago, my best friend dan and i started exchanging mixes at the beginning of each season. there’s definitely been some debate about when/why/how the whole thing began, but dan feels pretty certain that it was suggested over beers at harmony. i trust his memory more than my own. all i know is that at some point, i started making him cassette mixtapes to listen to in his car cuz he only had a tape player at the time.
as the years have gone on, the format has changed from cassettes to cd’s to streaming. it’s kind of funny to think about how much of a constant this little exchange has been in my life, how we’ve somehow managed to keep it going all these years despite how much change we’ve both endured in our personal lives. i’ve missed our loose deadlines pretty consistently because of shit going on in my life, and i’m pretty sure there were a few times where i just failed completely to deliver. regardless, we’ve soldiered on and i think for the first time ever, i’ve managed to complete and hand off my mix sooner than dan has.
i started putting this mix together only a few days after i handed off my summer 2019 mix. i was listening to “irresistible” by deafheaven on an unseasonably cool day and was unexpectedly hit with a heavy dose of longing and wistfulness, a slightly heartbreaking nostalgia for the summer of 2013 when sunbather came out and i was in my first serious adult relationship and things were fun and easygoing for me. listening to that song even then always made me feel some type of way that is kinda hard to put my finger on. it’s unabashedly sentimental and kinda melancholy. in other words, it’s extremely my shit.
it reminded me of the title of a john adams piece titled “naïve and sentimental music”. the title of adams’s symphony is a reference to an essay published in 1795 by friedrich schiller, titled “on naïve and sentimental poetry.” in this context, “naïve” and “sentimental” aren’t meant in the way we understand them in 2019. here they are meant to represent two opposing types of motivation for which an artist may create work: “naïve” meaning an artist creates solely for the sake of creation, while “sentimental” refers to an artist creating work that demonstrates a consciousness of other factors, such as the work’s place in art history or in reference to the artist’s other works.
while the essay by schiller definitely serves a purpose and is a valuable examination of artistic motivation, i prefer to interpret the title of adams’s symphony in a modern way. i think “irresistible” is a great example of naïve and sentimental music: naïve in it’s hopefulness and sorrow, and in it’s sentimentality, or it’s ability to conjure a sense of longing and nostalgia. so basically this kinda sad song led me to consciously misinterpret one artist’s interpretation of another artist’s interpretation of artistic motivation. and it was with that misinterpretation in mind that i began seeking music that fit that description, and this mix is a small collection of what i found.
click here to reveal spotify playlist and apple music playlist.
hope you enjoy it.
