Playlist: The May Project - ‘La Tendresse’

KATIE BROWN - 16 NOV 2020

I compiled this long-playing playlist, themed around tenderness, at the end of August, just when Auckland was emerging from lockdown-the-second. It was an especially therapeutic experience. I’d been finding myself the emotional equivalent of Auckland’s weather (read: sunshine-rain-wind-hail-thunder-lightning-very-frightening), and it was a frustrating experience, until I stopped and realised that it was to be expected. It’s been a YEAR, hasn’t it.

So instead, I gave myself the permission to feel what I was actually feeling, and allowed myself to be still for a little. I began to appreciate what it is just to sit on my doorstep, watch leaves moving in the breeze, being amused by my cat doing his bizarre cackle at the silvereyes darting in and out of mandarin trees, and to just be. Whatever terrible things are going on, there is much goodness too.

This is a playlist composed of old favourites and new that embraces being in that particular space: it’s like a bath at the perfect temperature on a cold, grey day. A little melancholy, maybe, but sometimes that can be just the ticket. These are songs I have found comforting in the past, some new-to-me discoveries, and songs that give me the space to embrace where I’m at emotionally. I think it still rings true now as this year draws to an end and we turn our faces to the next, still processing what has passed and unsure what 2021 will bring. One thing I do know for sure is that in the midst of inevitable dark moments there will be some wonderfully light ones too.

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