A Journey to the Ports of France

As college continues to plow on, seemingly without a single moment to take a breath, it's often easy to get caught up in the hundreds of tasks we must accomplish on a daily basis. As soon as one huge assignment is submitted, several more come flooding back in. As college students, all of us have a variety of ways to destress. My favorite way to get away from the stress of school is, by far, music.

In the past, whenever I have brought up easy listening, people have replied by saying that they wouldn't be able to get into it because it is too sleepy, repetitive, or just straight up boring. While I can understand that easy listening would certainly not be the best music to play at a party, or to add to your running playlist, it should not be dismissed as wholly unlistenable.

Easy listening can take a variety of forms, but at large it is intended to relax the listener. It's great to listen to while trying to plow through homework, trying to fall asleep at night, or even to take a breather between classes. I believe that listening to this kind of music can make any medial task more enjoyable, and any stressful time more breathable.

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My favorite easy listening music artist is Port Blue by far. Many of you may know Owl City, the musical genius behind Fireflies. The man behind Owl City also has many other projects he works on, one being Port Blue. The song below is entitled "Over Atlantic City".

I understand that Atlantic City is very close, in New Jersey, but when I listen to this song I always imagine myself on a cruise liner right outside the ports of France. The song starts off with a man calmly speaking in French (perhaps this is why I imagine myself in France), with subtle hints of birds chirping in the background, his voice muffled and faint, as if he were speaking over the sea water winds. The pianoesque synth also reminds me of the calm of floating right above the calm waters at port. At 0:20 the beat is introduced, with a variety of different sounds, some low pitched drums and some higher pitched rattles. This beat may remind the listener of the slow, steady rocking of the ship, with the big bass boom, and then the rattling (perhaps of chairs or other furniture on the deck) almost as a reaction.

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Characteristic of easy listening music at large, the song dwells on the same elements for a while (usually around twenty or thirty seconds), before subtly introducing a new element to the ones from before. The song starts out with a high pitch, relaxing piano synth at 0:20, and at 0:36 a more mellow, lower pitch piano is added to the existing. By slowly adding various new parts to compliment the old, the song remains peaceful, without becoming too repetitive or boring. A few ornamentations are introduced at 0:56, and the full melody is revealed at 1:03. Once all the elements combine together, the listener can feel like they have truly been taken to a new place, breathing in the fresh air, relaxing in the sun, swaying with the soft waves, enjoying a hot cup of tea, and all stress magically fades away. And the rest of the song continues to build on these central themes.

While we may not be able to take ourselves away from the everyday stress of school literally, this genre can often do a great job of at least taking our minds away from it for a time, letting us come back refreshed and ready to tackle our responsibilities head on.