Far Out 40: The perfect soundtrack for a storm
You can feel it in the air long before it starts. It’s almost indescribable: a sense of tension swelling where each drop of rain feels like a warning, saying, “A storm is coming.”
As summer gives way to winter, warm evenings give way to gloomy ones, and Halloween looms, it’s time to embrace the weather and romanticise its melodrama. There’s a delicious eeriness to stormy weather as it slowly builds and builds. It feels theatrical as the rain pounds down and thunder and lightning rip through the sky. Hiding away in our houses, a storm outside makes even the most normal domestic situations feel like a movie scene deserving of a cinematic playlist to soundtrack it.
That’s where this playlist comes in. Not only do all 40 songs soundtrack the feeling of the winter seasons with their bad weather and embrace of cosiness. But the tracklist of the playlist is crafted to take listeners through the whole scene. Starting with the gentle sounds of Margo Guryan, Alice Phoebe Lou, and Vashti Bunyan, their angelic voices are made to play as the rain first begins to fall. Then, as it becomes clear that the storm is set on coming, embrace its eerie energy with Ethel Cain, Angel Olsen, and Weyes Blood’s atmospheric works.
As the first strikes of lightning and the first booms of thunder sound out, embrace it. Lean into the dramatic weather with the sounds of Billie Holiday, The Moody Blues, Fontaines D.C’s latest gothic tracks or Lana Del Rey’s most theatrical work. But trust that the skies will lighten again. As Let’s Eat Grandma’s ‘Two Ribbons’ begins, feel the tension give way to peace again. Let the likes of Julia Jacklin, Sufjan Stevens, Mazzy Star, and more clear away the clouds as the rain begins to lighten and the sun makes its eventual return.
From the building tension of the rain to the dramatic storm hitting and then returning to a state of calm, these 40 tracks are set to soundtrack the whole experience. Designed to be played from start to finish with an ever so slight crossfade on the tracks, take shelter from the storm and hit play.
The ultimate stormy weather soundtrack:
- Margo Guryan – ‘Under My Umbrella’
- Elvis Presley – ‘Summer Kisses, Winter Tears’
- Alice Phoebe Lou – ‘Lover // Over the Moon’
- Vashti Bunyan – ‘If I Were’
- Pem – ‘Gut Health’
- Fleetwood Mac – ‘Storms’
- Phoebe Bridgers – ‘The Gold’
- Skullcrusher – ‘Two Weeks In December’
- Puma Blue – ‘Sheets’
- Searows – ‘Keep The Rain’
- Greta Isaac – ‘FU’
- Mitski – ‘Star’
- Samia – ‘Pool’
- Weyes Blood – ‘God Turn Me Into A Flower’
- Angel Olsen – ‘Some things Cosmic’
- Ethel Cain – ‘For Sure’
- Nicole Dollanganer – ‘American Tradition’
- Les Paul + Mary Ford – ‘Lonesome Road’
- Billie Holiday – ‘Lady Sings The Blues’
- Billie Holiday – ‘Gloomy Sunday’
- Joni Mitchell – ‘Rainy Night House’
- Nat King Cole – ‘Nature Boy’
- The Moody Blues – ‘Nights In White Satin’
- Lana Del Rey – ‘Terrence Loves You’
- Fontaines D.C – ‘Romance’
- The Doors – ‘Riders On The Storm’
- Bill Ryder-Jones – ‘Don’t Be Scared, I Love You’
- Let’s Eat Grandma – ‘Two Ribbons’
- Salvia Palth – ‘(Dream)’
- Sufjan Stevens – ‘Futile Devices’
- Keaton Henson – ‘And All At Once We Were Radiant’
- Julia Jacklin – ‘Too In Love To Die’
- Mazzy Star – ‘Blue Light’
- Whatever, Dad – ‘Warsh_Tippy and Zelda’
- Suki Waterhouse – ‘Coolest Place In The World’
- Alexandra Savior – ‘Soft Currents’
- Lomelda – ‘Talk’
- Alek Olsen – ‘Winter Surf’
- Bon Iver + St Vincent – ‘Roslyn’
- Ruby Weapon + Hannah Telle – ‘All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun’
