FEAR AND TREMBLING by GANG OF YOUTHS. Fiction by Sean Mortell.
A rollercoaster through yourself. The rain monotonously pounds on the floor-to-ceiling window, obscuring the twinkling lights of the city. Murmurs disperse across the room...
DOG DAYS ARE OVER by FLORENCE + THE MACHINE. Story by Steven Joyner
In that final hour, I felt compelled to dance. I’ve never been a dancer, nor have I ever truly felt the inclination, but suddenly, I felt the desperate need to stand up and flail around my bedroom like a madman.
DAYDREAMER by TROPHY EYES. Story by Samantha Lee Currran
Dreaming made the emptiness I felt less demanding, but there was a hole inside of me. The Trophy Eyes song helps me find my way.
RAGGED WOOD by FLEET FOXES. Story by Bernhard Sayer
The songs invited me to sing again. And I realised through that two-week journey, that that was what had gone missing.
THE BOOK OF LOVE by THE MAGNETIC FIELDS. Story by Jane Leonard
Songs have been there for me when people haven’t. In the breadth of its short verses, it contains moments that capture everything I have loved about love and have been lucky enough to experience.
HANNAH HUNT by VAMPIRE WEEKEND. Story by Mickey Randall
Hannah Hunt opens in a seascape. A gentle, pretty song, it initially glides in that ethereal space between sleeping and waking. There’s a quietness, an almost meditative quality to the music that maybe mirrors our narrator’s quest for peace.
ELECTRIC FEEL by MGMT. Story by Nathan Johnson
As the music plays a green tree viper appears outside my window. It’s slithering through the branches just a few metres away.
UNDER THE TABLE by FIONA APPLE. Poem by Michael Leach
A short poem about COVID, porridge and a Fiona Apple song.
AGING FRIENDS by KIDS THESE DAYS. Story by Madeleine Maccar
Each near-miss is a reminder that I wouldn’t be so lucky next time. It does make me sad my friends are aging, though we learned all too well that age has little to do with mortality.
ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS GO TO THE CITY by SPOON. Story by Madeleine Maccar
My brand-new iPod was my companion as I let New York take me in. And because I was writing my love letter to the city like my own personal movie, it needed a soundtrack.