POTW (2019/20): Soft Calm

This week, we have Soft Calm, curated by singer-songwriter Barry McLoughlin as our Playlist of the Week. I’ve featured two of Barry’s playlists before – his Acoustic Treasures and Winter Wanderer playlists, and there’s a bit more about him in the first of those two articles.

Soft calm is a collection of songs that are gentle on the ears. Moving between jazzy, cool, spacey and just plain beautiful sounds, this is a really lovely relaxing listening experience that can just as easily be used as background music for all-day work, creativity or reading.

Duration: 11h / 179 songs.

NB: I listen with Spotify’s ‘explicit’ song filter switched on. There are a few tracks labelled explicit on this list, but I haven’t heard them! If those tracks are likely to bother you, please make sure you have the filter switched on in your own account before listening.

Playlist of the Week (2018/52)

Playlist of the Week No 52, 2018 Winter Wanderer, curated by Barry McLoughlin

You’ve probably still got a way to go with last week’s Alternative Christmas playlist, but here’s another choice for your Christmas listening, and it’s very classy.

Our POTW this week is the lovely Winter Wanderer playlist, compiled by Barry McLoughlin, whose Acoustic Treasures playlist I featured all the way back in August. This set of songs is in much the same folky singer-songwriter vein, with a fair sprinkling of songs about Christmas, snow and the winter season.

I imagine you’re more organised than me and had the Christmas presents wrapped months ago and you’re pretty much all set to go. (I always manage to leave something to the last minute).  Hopefully you have some time off over Christmas, for time with family and time to reflect on the actual meaning of the season as well as enjoying the trappings and a glass of something comforting.

So it’s a very happy Christmas from me… I’ll be bringing you some more playlists in due course, but would love to know what you’ve thought of the series so far and where you’d like it to go next year.

 

Playlist of the Week (2018/32)

Playlist of the Week (2018/32): Barry McLoughlin's Acoustic Treasures collection.

This Monday’s POTW comes from a Dublin-born and Canadian-raised acoustic artist, Barry McLoughlin, who has been lauded for his songwriting as well as his vocals.

A resident of a small town Sioux Lookout, Ontario, McLoughlin is a prolific songwriter, who first appeared at Toronto’s Massey Hall, at just 17 years old.  For a taste of his sparsely produced guitar-folk ballads, check out the beautiful love song “Dulcinea“, or “Do You Still Believe?“.  If you like the music of Gordon Lightfoot, Iain Archer or Glen Hansard, I think you’ll enjoy his writing, too.

The Acoustic Treasures playlist is a collection of songs by lesser-known artists, which fit with the aesthetic – but not necessarily the genre – of his own music, where the songs speak for themselves. I really enjoyed playing it and hope you will too.