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