I’ve been listening to a lot of gorgeous, warm indie, indie folk and folk-inflected indie music this week while I worked on articles, resumed supervision and recuperated in the aftermath of having midwifed two PhD dissertations that have now been submitted. These included Sufjan Stevens’s Seven Swans (which always makes me nostalgic for my weekend train rides to the Gold Coast to say hello to the Pacific Ocean), Joanna Newsom’s Have One on Me, Lord Huron’s entire discography, Bon Iver, Nick Drake, Bill Callahan and Big Thief. I also had on repeat the soundtrack for Arrival as I was reading Ted Chiang’s collected short stories. Not much of paying attention to the newest indie music lately because I’m all about wanting comfort and nostalgia right now.
I have continued osmosing a lot of Sean Shibe because I connect very strongly to his approach to the classical guitar and something about it soothes my soul in the most trying of times. It’s also giving me the motivation I need as I intensify my music exam preparation sessions. Right now I’m listening to the pre-release tracks from his latest album, Vesper, on Apple Music. I love it! I’ve also been listening to Hannah Murphy’s interpretation of the classical guitar classics on YouTube because I like her approach as well and find a lot to learn from it.