Sunlight, with all of its vitamin D and serotonin-boosting effects, has a positive impact on our mental health and overall wellbeing. The happy mood that sunshine puts us in essentially universal for all people. It is perhaps because of this commonly held belief that sunny days = good mood that musicians draw upon summery-sounds in their feel-good songs. And while “sunshine” isn’t a music genre per se, warm, sunny days and the upbeat, carefree attitudes that accompany them have certainly inspired and influenced subgenres such as surf-rock, dreampop, beach-goth, psychedelic-pop, Americana and shoegaze.
These 12 songs provide the perfect soundtrack for laying out in a hammock on a spring day, hanging out at the beach waiting for the right surf waves, or even simply daydreaming about the warm days ahead. Add these songs to your designated sunny-day-playlist to listen to all spring and summer long:
Afternoon – Youth Lagoon
Tangerine – Beach Fossils
Buzzing in the Light – Dr. Dog
Glazin’ – Jacuzzi Boys
Let’s Go Surfing – The Drums
Nova Scotia 500 – Boyscott
West Coast Bros – Balue
Varsity – Smith Westerns
T-shirt Weather – Circa Waves
Orpheus Under The Influence – The Buttertones
Kalifornia – Modern Pleasures
Sunlight – Yuno