This Blue World by Elbow. Their music in general feels like everything warm and comforting and home. This song in particular instantly relaxes me and makes me feel safe and loved.

Any song by Sigur Ros. Of all of the music I’ve listened to over the years, none feels as big, as majestic as theirs. It’s driving across the vast plains with a thunderstorm heading your way. It’s driving through the mountains and catching peeks through the trees of the grand expanse below. It’s staring up at the stars and feeling absolutely tiny and insignificant beneath them. I have no idea what they’re actually singing about and I prefer it that way. It means that it means whatever it inspires me to feel at the moment.

I’m 46 years old and the last time I loved the music I listened to in my teens was in my teens. Sure, I occasionally get nostalgic and throw on a hair metal power ballad or two, but otherwise I have no desire to listen to the past.

I do have some favorite artists (and genres) from certain points in my life, but I am always listening to new music, always seeking out that which I haven’t discovered yet. It is one of life’s greatest pleasures to have a whole new discography to work through. Some of my newest favorites include Dope Lemon, Snaildartha, Elwan, and Michael Kiwanuka. Seriously cannot fathom only (or mostly only) still listening to the same thing all these years. Not when there is so much good music out there all the time!