This week there are no words necessary. Instead, a quick opportunity to get psyched for December festivities by ditching the lyrics and appreciating interludes in albums and life that require no words.
And if we’re talking instrumentals, one of the best openings of any album in the 2000s, and arguably one of the best purely instrumental songs of that decade, is the unassumingly titled “Intro” on The xx’s 2009 debut album. Like, it’s so good and addictive that someone made a ten-hour loop of the track on YouTube, and it doesn’t even seem like an unreasonable thing to do (both to make the loop and to listen to it).
I’m feeling Jamie xx appreciation because I listened to his solo album In Colour for the first time in a long time this weekend, and it absolutely slaps as a pure dance album and as the kind of joyous music that was able to bring me out of the funk I was feeling about the world.
“Solar Gap” by Hinds and “Song for Nancy” by Benji Hughes are reflective interludes on both the albums they appear on and on this sort-of party playlist. The dreamy guitar on “Solar Gap” especially makes me think of the sunlight on the leaves and grass after it’s rained here and you get a quiet gratitude-filled moment in the winter sun (p.s. Friends reading in South Africa, December is the worst time for seeing your summer Instagrams though).
Finally, to snap back into party mode, there’s “God Put a Smile On upon your Face” from Mark Ronson’s Version, which is kind of a cheat here because it’s a cover. But I dare you to tell me that the eternal pep of the Daptone Horns aren’t the right kind of festive.
Dear Music, I Love You 
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