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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

Washed Out mellows out

Washed Out Band Photo. Ernest Greene pictured.

I watched the trees move past the window of my car as I slipped in my ear buds. Music does many things for me, and one of the greatest of all is that it has the ability to slow down time.

I searched “Mister Mellow” on my Spotify app and pressed shuffle – I’m too cheap to pay for Premium – and heard one of 12 songs: “Easy Does It”.

And so the track begins, “There’s definitely some pressure and stress in my life.”

I turned my head to look out the front window as my dad drove us home from Michigan and watched the movement of the trees slow down.

Something about Washed Out has always appealed to me. The song, “Feel It All Around” introduced me to one of my favorite TV shows, “Portlandia.” Other songs I’ve heard by Washed Out bring time to a screeching halt, and for some reason make me really pay attention to my surroundings. The music also helps me stare at the ceiling and zone out for a bit. That’s the type of mix-up what I was hoping for with the new album.

And that’s exactly what I got.

The slower songs on the album paired with Ernest Greene’s vocals left me feeling soothed, and after listening to “I’ve Been Daydreaming My Entire Life” it almost felt like someone was gently rubbing my back.

I was only able to listen to a few songs from the album before the sounds of the highway and Greene’s vocals in “Million Miles Away” brought me into a deep sleep. However, when I arrived at home and was able to get to my laptop, I ended up listening to the album in order.

The album does not only have slower, more soothing songs. “Hard To Say Goodbye,” “Zonked” and “Get Lost” are some of the songs that are more upbeat and make my head bob. These are the ones I would both stare out the window in deep thought to and consider adding to a party playlist.

Many of the 12 songs are short little snippets, around one and two minutes, and the longest song is only four minutes and 47 seconds, which sets the album at an easy 29 minutes.

A relaxing, but also upbeat, album I have listened to both shuffled and in order, “Mister Mellow” does exactly what the title says: mellows you out. The slower songs calm you down, while the faster ones leave you tapping your foot. I do prefer the album in order though, because the way the tracks flow together really is something beautiful.

This is an album I will continue to daydream, stare at trees out of my car window — while someone else is driving, of course — and slow down time with.

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