The perfect
sundown playlist
The perfect
sundown playlist
The perfect
sundown playlist
God of the Sunsets
SEB
Pink + White
Frank Ocean
West Coast Love
Emotional Oranges
Music Takes Me Up
Mr Scruff ft Alison Russell
Sunny Afternoon
The Kinks
One Love
Nas ft Q-Tip
Watermelon Sugar
Harry Styles
LA artist SEB’s sun-drenched indie-pop makes you want to grab a surfboard and catch some waves. Or, if that’s not your thing, kick back on the sand and grab a beer with some friends. “There’s something beautiful, yet so tragic about sunsets,” he’s said of his songwriting. “For a short moment at the end of the day, the sky is lit up with brilliance while counting down to darkness at the same time. I try to capture that feeling whenever I write music.”
Talk about bittersweet. Frank Ocean’s song evokes the way sunsets can bring memories to the surface. A lilting piano motif rocks back and forth; a bass hook meanders as if lost in thought. It’s a song that makes you feel grateful to be alive, here to witness another turn of the Earth.
The perfect song to unwind to, West Coast Love is an early single from enigmatic California duo Emotional Oranges. It’s delivered over lush beats, a langorous bass groove, and dreamy vocals: ‘Can we take it back to the Bay when we bounced/ To the sound of my favourite band playing?’
The sun goes down, but the music takes us higher. This classic from producer Mr Scruff’s 2008 album Ninja Tuna stars the powerhouse vocals of British soul singer Alice Russell.
This tongue-in-cheek number from 1966 tells the woeful tale of an aristocrat fallen on hard times. ‘My girlfriend’s run off with my car/ And gone back to her ma and pa’ Ray Davies mourns. What else is there to do but head out to the garden and make the most of a sunny afternoon?
One of the best cuts from possibly the greatest debut album of all time, One Love was inspired by Bob Marley’s track of the same name. Its sampling of the sunny marimba sound is at odds with the grit in the lyrics, offering the perfect soundtrack for those deep conversations that last long after the sun’s gone down.
Over warm electric guitar twangs, Harry Styles captures the playfulness of a summer’s day. The big brass flourishes, evocative visuals – ‘Strawberries on a summer evenin’/ Baby, you’re the end of June’ – and uplifting chorus make this an essential sunset jam.
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