We Bet You Can't.

10 points for those who spotted the intentional song titles so far, Foy Vance and Depeche Mode. But what are we talking about here? We’re talking about listening to nothing. Intentionally. 

The very opposite of how we live now. 

For most of us, we listen to music from morning until night, and then sometimes we have it playing as we sleep. Giving us no gaps in sound. There isn’t a moment when we don’t have something seeping into our ears. But we don’t really notice it, the true amount of consumption.

We’ve spoken about drowning in sound, and this is very adjacent to that. 

As we scroll, walk, run, work out, work, and share content, it all has music. 

And, of course, as music lovers, it is a feast - there is so much of it that you can get fat off new music daily. Isn’t that incredible? 

But maybe we’ve lost the very basic ability to do things in silence. Not so long ago, we took a week of silence: no TikTok, no music on a player, no TV in the background. Nothing that could be interpreted as music or muzak.

Just nothing. 

And it was confronting. Why was it so difficult to be without music in all forms? Well, because music can, quite literally, block out the world. A good set of ANC headphones and your playlists, and you’re set. 

But what if you just… don’t?

We know this is probably going to be a hard sell; after all, we spend our time telling you to listen and love. We dedicate our time to discovering new music from artists you haven’t heard, and offer up playlists. We’re recommending music fast and hard.

We’re now asking for the complete opposite of what we know you love; we’re asking you to try some silence. Treat it as a personal experiment. 

Truth be told, the first two days were incredibly difficult. If you’ve ever given up anything, you’ll know that your day can feel wrong without it. And it does, to start with. 

But quickly, you’ll begin to notice you can find music in pretty much anything. Which sounds odd, but train tracks, people walking, heck, even the birds and people coughing all have a rhythm. And while it’s not as good, it is there. 

By day three, we were dreaming of all the music we would want to listen to, and surprisingly enough, it was nothing that we had recently heard. It was a throwback, Usher 8701 (not even a song, it is an intro). 

Out of nowhere, Bat Out Of Hell came up. Snippets of all of the songs we’d heard before, and ones we hadn’t thought about in ages, flashed through, and from there, a playlist started to come together. One that would never have been created otherwise. 

What are the benefits of nothingness? Well, some were little things, hearing more of what is around you, it can feel jarring, but then that’s how we used to do things, so how hard can it be? You’ll likely realize that music is more than just some tunes that fill up your day. 

You’re probably using it like an emotional regulator and a way to escape. The bodily response to not having music was probably similar to giving up smoking, coffee, or anything else you feel like you can’t live without. It sucks. 

So imagine the feeling as your final day of the joy of nothing approaches, and you can select a song. Something you have thought about for days, which, by the way, feels longer when all you have is silence. 

Clicking play or dropping the needle on a record will give the experience of hearing whatever track you have chosen for the first time. And it happens again and again as you go through everything you missed while on your break. 

A dream that we have all had, to hear music as if it were for the first time - this is as close as you’ll get.

So the question is… Are you in, or are you out? 

Here is the playlist we made of everything we thought about and wanted to hear with fresh ears.

Until next time,