“Anything seems possible at night when the rest of the world has gone to sleep.”  – David Almond (My Name is Mina)

Sleep is sometimes the exception. As the rest of the world drifts in dreamland I often find myself swimming around thoughts and plots, anxieties, and “what could have been’s”, wafting in the purgatory of never quite asleep. A middle-of-the-night existential crisis meets the girl whose mind never quiets.

At an age too young to identify I started crafting stories in my head to clear my mind, to self-soothe. Some lucky nights, I’d slip into slumber before my starlit protagonist was fully realized. Other nights, more frequently, I’d conjure up a few chapters worth before I’d give in the ghost, so to speak. I like to think it was in those midnight musings that the writer was born.

No story exists without a soundtrack. At least not in this insomniac’s corner of the universe. Here is part one of a new nocturnal series. Listen on Spotify or YouTube.

Lullabies for Insomniacs: Part 1

“She” by Alice Phoebe Lou
“Come to Me” by Mark Langan and PJ Harvey
“Co-op” by Bess Atwell
“California Dreamin'” (single version) by The Mamas & the Papas
“Let It Die” by Feist
“Don’t Forget About Me” by CLOVES
“cellophane” by FKA twigs
“Fantasmas” by Ambar Lucid
“Slow Disco” (piano version) by St. Vincent
“I Know Places” by Lykke Li
“Shades of Blue” by Kelsey Lu
“Everything I am is Yours” by Villagers
“Kiss Me Goodbye” by Petula Clark
“High and Dry” by Rosie Carney
“Into the Night” by Julee Cruise
“Youth” by Daughter
“Plainsong” by The Cure
“Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” by Cigarettes After Sex
“Holocene” by Bon Iver
“Lilac Wine” by Nina Simone
“Hope You Change Your Mind” by Beta Radio
“America” by Simon and Garfunkel
“True Love Will Find You In the End” by Someone and Benjamin Longman
“Love Songs for Robots” by Patrick Watson
“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star
“Sea of Love” by Cat Power
“Soft On Me” by Lily Hayes
“Every Woman” by Vagabon
“The End of the World” by Sharon Van Etten
“That Funny Feeling” by Phoebe Bridgers