Riding the Radiowaves, By Maria Wuerker
Music as
It’s 2:30 AM, and I’m making another playlist. I’ve been here so many times over the past six (seven? eight?) months, and music has become my go-to. My playlists have slowly become a heavily curated assortment of genres ranging from ‘80s soft rock to riot grrrl to a brief foray into international heavy metal. (If you’re looking for some killer hard rock in Maori, Alien Weaponry is your band.) I’ve spent months counting down to music releases and subsequently listening to those releases on repeat once they’re out. Before the pandemic, I would have described my relationship with music as casual. I had the songs that I had been listening to for a few years. Occasionally I would add in some new ones to my rotation, but it wasn’t something that I would actively track. Now, I would describe
it as a (mostly) healthy pastime. Of course, there are the nights like this one where I’m up until the early hours of the morning searching out that new sound or lyric that’s going to be exactly what I need to hear, but what follows are days filled with thoughtful lyrics, a melody or beat that gives me the energy I need to stay motivated and allows me to enter a headspace of focus or one of having fun. I have taken countless car rides through the back roads of my town, listening to the perfect song just as I crest the top of that one hill that always makes my stomach flip as I begin the descent down; I have sat on mornings filled with quiet whispers of music as I drink my tea and begin my day’s work; I have attended socially distant dance parties with friends in parking lots; and I have trekked on hikes in the woods, sweet strains of classical music keeping me company as I trace the course of a stream. Music has been my constant companion this year in a way that people could not be. Music has been a tangible presence in my room. I’ve danced with Pale Waves; I’ve cried with Phoebe Bridgers; I’ve screamed out my frustration with Wage War. Even though I’ve made collaborative playlists with friends, curated playlists for my friends, talked with friends about those eagerly awaited music releases, the experiences that I’ve been missing are set into the feelings that my music allows me.
