Stars of the Lid and Birth

Our son was born on a nice, breezy summer evening when the setting sun cast an orange glow and the full moon lurked just behind the hills. I had assembled a bunch of music to potentially have Julia listen to and help her focus or ease stress during labor. Taiga Remains, Eluvium, Gydja, the Necks. None of this really did the trick. But, as we expected, Stars of the Lid did. Wow, is that the best music for laboring women or what?

I won't get into the details, but And Their Refinement Of The Decline is the perfect patina of subtle sound for a woman to heave and grunt her way through the most life-changing physical experience. I have to thank these two dudes from Texas who wrote this music. It would probably be pretty interesting to hear that your music served as the soundtrack to a new human being brought into the world. In fact, we haven't stopped listening to SOTL since Everest was born. It's on all the time! We never get bored of it. It suits our mood and our volume level. Julia finds that one of the songs is the perfect expression of the inexplicably calm sadness a new mother feels when her peaking hormones start to drop off the day after she gives birth.

These dreamy, slow-motion drones composed of strings, horns, piano, guitar and synthetic water really are perfectly matched for such a sensitive event. Julia and I have kept the drones going. Besides listening to SOTL and other ambient stuff, we now sing drones to our baby. Whenever he seems to be crying inexpicably or is just needing comfort, we often opt to sing a sustained note directly into his skull or ear. It often quiets him within seconds. Sometimes this sonic interference keeps Everest happy for a long time. Until he shits his pants, after which even the sweetest of Debussy's fawning flutes couldn't keep the raging discomfort at bay.