Blog1 min read
On the first track of a playlist
It does more work than any other track. It signs the room within ten seconds.
The first track of a playlist does a disproportionate amount of work. It tells the listener what kind of room they've walked into within the first ten seconds, and most listeners decide whether to stay based on what they hear in that window.
For the rooms on this site, the first track is almost always the most patient one in the playlist. It sets a low ceiling so the rest of the music can move under it without feeling busy. A bright opener makes everything that follows sound quieter by contrast, which is the wrong direction — the listener starts expecting brightness and the playlist disappoints in slow motion.
The other thing the first track does is sign the playlist. It tells the listener whose ear is choosing. A generic ambient piece signs nothing; a specific one — a particular pianist, a particular tape texture, a vocal in a particular language — signs the playlist clearly. That signature does some of the work of trust over the next forty minutes.
I change first tracks more often than I change anything else in a playlist. It is the part that has to do the most work and the part the listener is most likely to remember.