The Drive Home

Ever since I learned to drive I have always wanted to find the perfect music to accompany the nighttime drive from wherever you have been partying/hooking up/watching a movie/talking/ etc. to wherever you plan on sleeping or any of the previously mentioned things but this time in your pajamas. It has always been difficult to find the right music, if it's too upbeat and loud it ruins the winding down nature of the ride home, if it's too mellow and quiet you may fall asleep at the wheel and endanger yourself and others, so it's a difficult balance to find. I have tried countless bands/artists and none have fit. Death Cab's songs are too varied, one minute you are following Ben into the dark and the next minute you are rocking in the new year, though summer skin is the perfect song for a nighttime drive with someone to somewhere with the windows down but I digress. Enya makes me sleepy because I don't speak Gaelic and therefore cannot follow the words which just leaves me with the lullabyish mature of her voice and accompanying music. Mixes never have worked because the dramatic changes between voices and styles jars you into wakefulness no matter how chill the song. I called off the search a long time ago, settling for Radiohead at a very low volume, that is until this last Tuesday. I've been listening to the band Stars for quite a while now, my good friend Merrianne loves them and I really like them too. I had their latest albums but none of their early stuff, but tuesday morning I decided to get one of their early albums called "Nightsongs" it looked good and chill so I got it. I decided to listen to it on the long drive from Provo back to Salem (I think the frequency of me making this trip has made me more excited about this find) and i discovered this album is the perfect nighttime drive home album. The vocals are strong but quiet and understated, the beats and rhythms are really chill and give you a relaxed feeling without putting you to sleep. My two favorite tracks are "Going, Going, Gone" and a cover of The Smiths' song "This Charming Man" (as a big Smiths fan I can tell you that this is an awesome cover. They put their own spin on it but still pay appropriate homage to the original) I am so pleased to have found this album, as I drove home tonight I listened to it and it set me in the perfect mood to finish a blog and hit the sheets.