Much like how we equate certain seasons or weather events to a specific mood, music is an equally effective vessel for thoughts and feelings. Take, for example, a snow day: Odds are you’re holed-up in your house or apartment eating soup and binge-watching TV (or binge-drinking alcohol), which can lend itself to feelings of isolation and/or introspection — two distinctly cold-weather things. Inasmuch, certain types of music can elicit identical thoughts, and when these feelings align with one another the effect becomes profound. That’s why there are such things as rainy-day songs or warm-weather albums: We want our music to match what’s going on outside because, more often than not, it’s the same as what’s going on within.
The following 10 records aren’t just great pieces of music that happen to have a wintery feel to them; they conjure very specific thoughts of gray skies, snow, and peering into the outer world through a foggy window. These are albums best absorbed in your pajamas with a steaming beverage in hand — and, of course, through a good set of headphones. Hopefully, in the event that we get another round of snow tomorrow (though I probably just jinxed it), you’ll find these as warm and enveloping as I do.
10. Eluvium – Talk Amongst the Trees
One of the great tragedies of instrumental music — specifically ambient and drone — is that it’s more often discarded as background noise than something you can immerse yourself in. But Eluvium makes music so dense with beauty that it’s nearly impossible to ignore. Talk Amongst the Trees is perhaps his defining work, with exquisitely icy sheets of atmosphere caked around meticulously crafted, if subtle, compositions. Nowhere is this as evident as “Taken,” a nearly 17-minute epic built with nothing but a simple, repeated guitar hook at its core.
9. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
Back before Sufjan Stevens realized that a themed album for all 50 states was a futile endeavor, there was Michigan, the versatile singer-songwriter’s quaintest, frostiest, and arguably most personal piece of work. The record buoys between somber, piano-based ballads and swirling, effervescent neo-folk, conjuring images of the Michigan wilderness — the album’s cover, basically — as the esteemed lyricists pays homage to his home state. It’s a listen that’s as comforting as it is fascinating, and it could very well be his best record. If nothing else, it’s the one Sufjan album that should be revisited each winter.
8. Ulrich Schnauss – A Strangely Isolated Place
A Strangely Isolated Place is one of those albums that makes me hate the idea of genre. Is it shoegaze? Is it electronica? Is it ambient? Is it pop? Hell if I know. It could be all or none of those things. The German producer’s masterwork is just pure, unadulterated warmth disguising itself as a record — eight songs that beam from the speakers like ultraviolet light. Even the more uptempo parts — with their kinetic, almost dance-ready percussion — play as some sort of aural firmament, a place where the clouds and the sun intersect.
7. Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians
As you might expect from a work intended for (at least) 18 musicians, Steve Reich’s visionary 1978 recording has a lot of moving parts. Add in that the continuous, 56-minute piece with 11 separate movements is largely devoid of structure and you’d have a seemingly impenetrable piece of music. Yet the way in which its steadfast, organic instrumentation pulsates feels like the musical equivalent to an acid-trip through a snowy winter wonderland. And who wouldn’t love that?
6. Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant / Fleet Foxes
From the opening harmonies of Sun Giant, Fleet Foxes’ debut EP and introduction to their wonderfully elegant brand of folk, things are shaping up for an ethereal listen. Maybe it’s because one of their songs is called “White Winter Hymnal,” which literally talks about wearing red scarves and falling in the snow, but I’m unable to equate the Seattle group’s pair of 2008 releases to anything other than winter. And that’s part of why they’re so brilliant.
