Welcome to Restful’s Playlists corner. Today, the writer Zenas Ubere shares a touching playlist.
There is this one song in it called ‘Hearing’ by the artist Sleeping At Last. What a beautiful name and what a beautiful project. Amidst the many layers of sound here and there in the song is a repetition of the words ‘Love is an echo.’ The track apparently has a lot of easter egg stuff including the first known recorded sound ever by anyone and the artist’s daughter’s first recorded heartbeat from her first ultrasound.
While learning as much as I could about the sense of hearing, I was reminded of some videos I had seen a while ago, of people hearing sound for the very first time. One video after another, brought me to tears. […] I decided that I wanted this song to be the soundtrack to that experience, to sort of be a film score of sorts for some of those wonderful videos. I watched this compilation over and over as I wrote.
- Sleeping At Last (Ryan O’Neal)
Read here to learn more about how and why he made the song.
And while you’re here, read Zenas’s most recent essay (on Ibadan).
- Immaculata
Zenas:
I often return to Mati Diop’s 2019 feature film Atlantics (Netflix link). I return to it for the mood it evokes. It’s one of those films that leave as much impression on your mind as it does on your heart, such that at the end of it you’re not only thinking about what you’ve seen but can feel its weight tugging at your heart, pulling forth strong emotions. Consider this playlist an embodiment of my emotional response to the film.
Here is a quote from the film from which the playlist’s title came:
“I saw you in the enormous wave which consumed us. All I saw was your eyes and your tears. I felt your weeping dragging me to the shore. Your eyes never left me. They were there, within me, pouring their light into the depths.” –Atlantics (2019)
Play on Spotify.
Play on Apple Music.
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