I sat near my window sipping my cup of iced tea; peach iced tea to be specific; the bright sunny day with the clear blue sky called for a relaxing low lying day. I daydream about how amazing it’d be if I could be relaxing on a meadow enjoying the beauty of serene mother nature, breathing fresh blown air.
Our lives for the past year have been wrapped into a turmoil due to the pandemic. With our daily modules shifting into the online platform and repeating our daily routine over and over again, craving escapism was something our hearts ached for.
I found myself getting into activities I had always wanted but never had the time or energy for. I found myself getting into painting quite a lot. An activity for engaging my brain but also an activity I poured my want of escapism into. That’s when alongside painting, I discovered my love for lo-fi music; a perfect pair. Lo-fi meaning low-fidelity, a term for music where you can hear imperfections that typically would be considered errors in the recording process. Just like the situation we were in, quite imperfect, lofi music helped calm me down and cope up.
I have always found my safe space within music. I used to find myself listening to Kiss the Rain or River flows in you by Yiruma whenever I wanted to unwind.
But the thought of lo-fi beats helping me calm down was something I had never thought of. I had always thought of the beats as studying music that I would probably fall asleep to while studying. We all wish we were as productive as the lofi anime girl gif, don’t we? Turns out the fine line between work and leisure is erased by the music. It’s music that works against excess. The excess of what it means to be alive in this world where the volume is always being turned up. The music gives us another frequency to tune in and tune out.
Lo-fi music can apply across a wide range of genres; you can find the perfect tune for your every mood, as well as since we all are locked away in our homes due to the pandemic, lo-fi beats create a vibe perfect for your reverie. Early Monday mornings , 3:30 a.m., Snowy Christmas days, the choices of lo-fi music to choose from are infinite for a perfect escape from the humdrums of life. More than that, there’s no doubt we all have dealt with surges of unproductivity; lo-fi music helps to regulate our mood which has a positive effect on our cognition and finally which has a positive effect on our productivity. The music feels like an aural cocoon; a comfort wrap to help us make the best out of difficult situations.
I often find myself sitting by my window during the evening after a long day listening to Waiting for dawn lofi mix by Tunable Music, sipping my peach iced tea in a sweet reverie where I’m relaxing on a beautiful serene meadow.
