Far Out 40: The perfect winter hike playlist
The shortest day of the year isn’t far off, which means (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) the winter weather is almost definitely rather bleak. Though the midwinter gloom might indicate otherwise, these frigid months are the perfect time to organise a hike. The forests, hills and mountains have taken on an altogether more gothic tone since the ruby days of autumn.
Wherever you’re headed – whether it’s some remote landscape you’ve been eyeing up for a while or a patch of forest just a stone’s throw from your house – you’ll need to pack the essentials. That means a sturdy pair of walking boots, a coat, water, a flask of tea or coffee, some food to keep you going and, of course, a decent playlist. We’ll leave the first five up to you, but the last one’s on us.
In this special playlist, we’ve put together a 40-track soundtrack for the perfect winter hike. In thinking about what makes winter excursions so unique, we realised our selection would need to evoke the stark, austere beauty of the winter landscape. In an effort to do so, we’ve come up with this spacious, genre-spanning playlist. From steel-strung classics by the great Bob Dylan to ambient cuts by experimental violinist Richard Skelton, this playlist seeks to highlight the serenity of the season.
When the days are this short and the weather this inclement, it’s clear the world is trying to tell us something. Look at the naked trees, the frozen water and the pale grass: life is at a low ebb. What better time to reflect on the year just passed, and what better way to do so than by taking yourself out into the world?
Check out the selection below.
The perfect winter hike playlist:
- ‘Girl From The North Country’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘David Bowie I Love You (Since I Was Six)’ – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
- ‘New Slang’ – The Shins
- ‘The Only Living Boy In New York – Simon & Garfunkel
- ‘Romulus’ – Sufjan Stevens
- ‘Never Meant’ – American Football
- ‘Blanket Song’ – Kikagaku Moyo
- ‘Little Things’ – Big Thief
- ‘River’ – Joni Mitchell
- ‘River Man’ – Nick Drake
- ‘Crazy For You’ (Alternative Versio) – Slowdive
- ‘Venus in Cancer’ – Robbie Basho
- ‘Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be Sleeping’ – Grouper
- ‘I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun’ – Beach House
- ‘Tree Strings’ – Johnny Greenwood
- ‘Noon Hill Wood’ – Richard Skelton
- ‘Storm’ – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- ‘Moonlit Sky’ – Colleen
- ‘Snow Is Falling In Manhatten – Purple Mountains
- ‘Night Falls on Hoboken’ – Yo La Tengo
- ‘Bringing Me Back – Eartheater
- ‘Dawn Chorus’ – Thom Yorke
- ‘The Sound of All Things’ – Lorelle Meets The Obsolete
- ‘Fear of Flying’ – Bowery Electric
- ‘Song On The Beach’ – Arcade Fire, Owen Pallett
- ‘Peace Piece’ – Bill Evans
- ‘Julia’ – The Beatles
- ‘Diamond Day’ – Vashti Bunyan
- ‘Pastoral II’ – Moondog
- ‘Tears in The Typing Pool’ – Broadcast
- ‘Sea, Swallow Me’, Cocteau Twins, Harold Budd
- ‘re:stacks’ – Bon Iver
- ‘Nanou2’ – Aphex Twin
- ‘Winter Lady’ – Leonard Cohen
- ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’ – Fleet Foxes
- ‘This is The Sea’ – The Waterboys
- ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling’, Andy Bell
- ‘Sail To The Moon’ – Radiohead
- ‘Drinking At The Dam’ – Smog
- Loin des villes – Yann Tiersen
