Hello, and welcome to the inaugural episode of Gray Days and Gold. (For anyone who missed it, here’s an introduction that explains the show’s raison d’être.) It’s January 2020 and—while we can’t pretend that everything we hold dear isn’t burning down, literally and figuratively—we can at least take a brief respite and enjoy some good music together.

The sonic palette of the series will be ever-changing to match the seasons, but January means music that sounds like the last fading echoes of the holidays and the good cheer that came with them, days that feel like more darkness than light, and the hush of snowfall.

You can listen via the embedded player just below in this post—if you don’t see it, try turning off your ad-blocker then reloading the page—or on the Mixcloud website, via the Mixcloud mobile app, on your Sonos system, etc.

For those who prefer Spotify, there’s also a more bare-bones iteration of this episode’s playlist here (minus my commentary, as well as any songs that are missing from Spotify’s library).

Gray Days and Gold, January 2020

1. Matt Pond PA, “Winter One” (2005) • BUY
2. The Lilac Time, “The Needles” (2019) • BUY
3. Nina Simone, “Little Girl Blue” (1959) • BUY
4. The Divine Comedy, “3rd of January” (2016) • BUY
5. Jessica Pratt, “Poly Blue” (2019) • BUY
6. Bremer/McCoy, “Salig” (2019) • BUY
7. Bodywash, “Sunspots” (2019) • BUY
8. Martin Newell, “Your Winter Garden” (2000) • BUY
9. Rose Elinor Dougall, “Wordlessly” (2019) • BUY
10. Jeff Victor (dba The Mood Architects), “Solitude and the Night” (2013) • BUY
11. Jacques Brel, “Il Neige Sur Liège” (1963) • BUY
12. Scott Walker, “Winter Night” (1969) • BUY
13. Roger Eno, “Recalling Winter” (1985) • BUY
14. The Album Leaf, “Wet the Day” (2001) • BUY
15. Leonard Cohen, “Listen to the Hummingbird” (2019) • BUY

Thanks for listening.