Next to travel, music is probably one of the most important things in my life.  I make playlists for just about every mood, situation, or place, and keeping my iTunes library down to a manageable number is a task I gave up on a long time ago.  I listen to music from a wide variety of genres, languages, and time periods, from the early American love songs of Nat King Cole to modern-day Icelandic prog-rock.  And there’s almost nothing I like more than getting a really good music recommendation from someone else.

I think music can be a powerful tool to evoke a sense of place.  So, I’ve decided that occasionally, I’m going to make a 21-song playlist based on a city, place, or area – because we all need just one more thing to give us a case of wanderlust.

For my first playlist, in honour of my trip this past weekend to Banff, Alberta, I’ve made a playlist called “Songs for Mountaintops.”  These are quiet, introspective songs about the quietude of nature and the magnificent sense of solitary wonderment that comes from being amidst mountains.

Track List:

1. Holocene – Bon Iver
2. Wolves – Phosphorescent
3. Move to the Mountains – Clock Opera
4. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song – Fleet Foxes
5. So Much for Everyone – Dan Mangan
6. Flume – Coeur de Pirate
7. Dayvan Cowboy – Boards of Canada
8. Burgh Island (feat. Monica Heldal) – Ben Howard
9. Port of Call – Beirut
10. Eastern Glow – The Album Leaf
11. In A Northern Sky – Fossil Collective
12. This Empty Northern Hemisphere – Gregory Alan Isakov
13. Redwings – Guillemots
14. Vagabond – The Horse Thieves
15. Down in the Valley – The Head and the Heart
16. Pacific Bray – Horse Feathers
17. Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine
18. Before My Time – J. Ralph feat. Scarlett Johansson & Joshua Bell
19. Wakin on a Pretty Day – Kurt Vile
20. Hoppipolla – Sigur Ros
21. I Won’t Be Found – The Tallest Man on Earth