Mixtape #121: January happens
Songs for Portrait of a Body (In Pieces)
January 8th, 2022
Side A
1. Piano Variations on Thoughts of You by Dennis Wilson
2. Someone I Know by Margo Guryan
3. A Song About Holding Hands by Gregor
4. Lonely Richard by Amen Dunes
5. I’ll Do My Crying in the Reigns, Too by Jim Guthrie, JJ Ipsen
Side B
6. Vesper by David Arnold
7. Blue Turning Gray by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
8. The Smallest Church in Sussex - Piano Version by Sea Power
9. Song to the Siren - Take 7 by Tim Buckley
10. Final Ascent by Hans Zimmer
Spotify
Liner notes
Last Sunday I launched my new Substack, a serialised novel titled Portrait of a Body (In Pieces). It’s free to read, and you can see the first chapter below without subscribing:
Each month I’ll be creating a Mixtape for the corresponding month in the story (the novel takes place over the course of one year, from January to December).
January finds our narrator not really feeling himself, mostly because he’s missing a few body parts, but also because he’s drifting aimlessly, without project or purpose.
These songs aim to capture the mood of the chapter, sad, yes, but also with a sense of wonder and whimsy. Some of these pieces of music are new to me, some have been waiting for years in my saved likes on Spotify, waiting for the right playlist.
Speaking of songs new to me, I think Someone I Know by Margo Guryan is possibly the finest pop song ever written. The wistful waltz of it, the driving drumbeat, the harpsichord, the hopeful melody, the sublime brevity. Get it on your radar and into heavy rotation.
Speaking of songs that I’ve loved forever, Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren has been haunting me since 2015. His son Jeff might be more well known, but Tim could carve your heart out.
The January chapter is split into three parts. The first is out now, the second will be published January 11th. Whether you read them or not, I hope you enjoy listening to these songs. And if you’re not convinced, maybe listening will persuade you to sign up.
You can sign up here:
Next month, songs for February.
Until then,
Dan