Blog1 min read
Music for arriving home late
The first music you put on tells the room you're back. Whatever was playing in the car is the wrong temperature for indoors.
Arriving home after midnight is an underrated listening moment. The streets outside have gone quiet; the kitchen light feels brighter than usual; the kettle sounds louder. The room has been waiting for you, and the first music you put on tells it you're back.
The brief is gentle. Whatever was playing in the car or the cab is the wrong temperature for indoors at this hour. Lo-fi at low volume works because the kitchen energy of lo-fi turns down well; wellness fits if you're going straight to bed; the sleep room is for the actual lying down, not for the in-between.
What I keep off is anything that restarts the day. Energetic music tells the body the day is starting again, and you'll be up another two hours. Even music you love can be the wrong music here, if it's the music of your morning routine. Reserve that for the morning.
By the time you've put a glass of water by the bed, the music has done its job — let the house go from being a place you returned to back into being a place you live in. Most nights you'll forget what was playing. The forgetting is the point.