Bande à part

Garance Doré lives out my Band of Outsiders fantasy by getting a chance to dance the Madison in a Paris café. And just to add a glossy finish to this fantasy, it was all done as an advertisement for the classically hip brand Petite Bateau and filmed by cinematic royalty Zoé Cassavetes. Some girls have all the luck.

Hibernation

Ray LaMontagne in his very own fall farmhouse. With a motorcycle, of course.

After a long, lovey, and sort of spring-like fall, winter seems to be settling in for real in New England... not completely unexpected. But it's cold enough that you actually do need to wear proper boots (instead of all those ballet flats that I live in) and it's been getting dark so early that I'm ready for bed by 8 in the evening. All of this clearly means that it's time for a solid hibernation plan. I mean, there are months of this ahead, might as well cozy up and hunker down. All of this hunkering requires a multi-pronged strategy* and one of those prongs is music (this might be under an even bigger umbrella/prong of atmosphere, but let's keep it simple for now).

Though I still have piles and piles of cds, for years now I've just listened to a series of playlists made up of whatever is on my ipod of the moment. But lately I've become hooked on the sort of thing that I don't usually get hooked on: a multi-layered, somewhat ad-filled, super integrated music application called Spotify. You've probably heard of it. You're probably already using it. Or maybe you're a bit like me and have heard about it but are not so sure that you want to get into all of that 'cause once you do, like me, you'll be hooked. And it is sort of great: you can find just about any song that you want to hear and compile an endless amount of playlists. And then (and for me this is the best part) you can share those playlists, via facebook, with friends and they can share theirs with you. They can send you songs and write little comments about them. You can make a special playlist just for them. It's social! You know, in a digital, not actually together togetherness sort of way. And possibly just what you need when you're snowed in and wish that you could be spending time with far away friends listening to your favorite song.


Lisa Hannigan braving the elements

In a hibernating mood, I compiled a playlist dubbed 'Fall Farmhouse', which is what will have to suffice for cozy atmosphere in lieu of having an actual fireplace. Here are a few of my favorites to listen to while drinking mulled wine and knitting a scarf to give to my brother for Christmas...

Lisa Hannigan launched a solo career a few years ago after singing back-up for Damien Rice.
I love her new album, Passenger, especially:
A Sail, O Sleep, and What'll I Do
And from Sea Sew:
I Don't Know, An Ocean and a Rock, Sea Song

Feist's new album, Metals, (with back up vocals by Mountain Man) feels like a cold Maine coastline... is that just me?
How Come You Never Go There, The Bad In Each Other, Cicadas and Gulls

Ray LaMontagne doesn't have something new out, but his music always makes me long for a farmhouse in the Berkshires (just the sort of place where he lives and records a lot of his songs). A few favorites:
Hey Me, Hey Mama, Lead Me On, Shelter

Iron and Wine have more than a few sweet and lovely cozy-ing up songs:
Bird Stealing Bread, Someday the Waves

And this one from Bon Iver's latest album sounds, to me, like snow falling:
Wash.


What songs are keeping you warm this wintertime?

Feist, looking all lovelorn and winter-y


*Other prongs of the hibernation strategy include food, films, and fiction... more on that later.

The Yeh-Yeh Girl from Paris