Need the perfect song for a long walk in the snow or motivation to keep up with your healthy habits during some of the coldest days of the year? These winter albums will help!
This is a collection of albums to curate the best possible vibe during the beautiful moments winter in Madison has to offer, as well as the inevitable times you will be questioning your decision to go to school in the Midwest. Embracing this cold season will make sweet spring moments (yes, they will arrive, I promise!) even more enjoyable.
1. Lonesome Dreams by Lord Huron
This album is for walking on Lakeshore Path shortly after a fresh snowfall. Looking up at the snow on the trees and out across the frozen lake fits perfectly with the sounds of “Ends of the Earth” and “The Ghost on the Shore.” The walk and the album invites introspection. What better place to reflect than in the beauty of nature?
2. 30 by Adele
This album is for when you’re studying as the sun sets in your drafty apartment. Although you are not a 30-year-old mom going through a divorce, finishing your readings next to your window coated in ice with a mysterious breeze certainly helps you relate to tracks like “Hold On” and “Cry Your Heart Out.” This album is moody and reminiscent and perfect for feeling the cold.
3. Lavender Days by Caamp
As you explore the ice and celebrate the joys of winter at the winter carnival, you think of Lavender Days by Caamp. While this album seems at first listen to be a summer classic, its theme of fully experiencing the small joys in life fit in with the carnival’s reminder to truly embrace winter.
4. Rearrange Us by Mt. Joy
This album will inevitably be playing when you cannot get off the 80 bus because it’s packed with people with large backpacks. While you wait for the next stop, you stare at the album art, which feels similar to the crowd on the bus. “Strangers” plays and you think yes, “I am over you.” “You” being the bus, obviously.
5. Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver
Fresh snow is falling as your group walks home from a night out. Your neighborhood is peaceful and the snow is swirling in the dark sky. While this album might usually speak more to a camping trip, its quiet beauty strangely applies to this situation as well.
6. Little Neon Limelight by Houndmouth
As you leave class, you see that the snow you thought was so pretty the night before has now melted into a brown slush that will make walking home without ruining your shoes an impossible feat. “Sedona” plays in your headphones as you daydream about the prospect of the coming spring and summer, instead of focusing on the river of mud in front of you.
7. Being Funny In A Foreign Language by The 1975
While “Frozen Heart” from Frozen may seem like the obvious choice, the song “About You” has a good cadence for walking up Bascom Hill, desperately trying to avoid slipping on ice as people begin to crowd around you. You are stressed and focusing on lyrics about the nostalgia of a past relationship somehow seems better than imagining the embarrassment of losing traction on the incline.
8. Tapestry by Carole King
Carole King’s voice sails across your kitchen as your roommates help you cook a comfort meal in low lighting. The tracks are upbeat enough to help you stay motivated, but the 70s sound instantly creates the cozy vibe necessary for a fun group-cooking experience in college.
9. Immunity by Clairo
The sounds of this album are exactly what you need when walking to your 8am class carrying your iced coffee in a gloved hand. Slow, yet with enough of a beat to carry you into an empty building as the sun is still rising. On your walk, you do not see another person and the campus is quiet aside from Clairo’s voice.
10. Harry’s House by Harry Styles
As you see green grass emerge from under the cover of snow, this upbeat pop album provides you with the hope and joy of spring. Hearing tracks like “Keep Driving” and “Daylight,” you know you’ve made it through the worst of the winter and are reminded that that the sun actually does still shine.
These albums are what help me to embrace winter even on the days where it feels like years since you last saw flowers blooming. Their vibes are likely to enhance the season no matter what winter experiences may come your way.