The Knight Shift — Daniel Lawhorne
By Daniel Lawhorne
- Ruby Rushton — The Target
- Takuya Kuroda — Thirteen
- Electric Octopus — Smokyhead
- Ashley Henry — Breeze
- Tenderlonious — SV Interlude
What’s this? A playlist by Daniel Lawhorne without so much as a hint of heaviness?
No, you’re not hallucinating. This is an excerpt from my paper-writing playlist.
I find it helpful to listen to something a little lighter while I write, preferably something instrumental. It keeps me from getting too distracted by lyrics or riffs. It doesn’t totally become background noise, but it serves as a way to seal myself in — if you will — to the elusive escape pod that is my ability to focus.
And as much as I love heavier stuff, the same thing always happens when I listen to it while I’m working: I don’t get anything done. I get too into it and become completely distracted. Jazz, for me, is something that lets me keep a good groove going without getting too into the music itself. I choose these tracks because they’re entirely instrumental and even though my playlist is much longer than just these five tracks, it feels like these are the ones that always give me just a little rush of excitement when they come on. Admittedly, Smokyhead is the outlier here. It’s a bit darker and more psychedelic rock-influenced than any of the other tracks, but I find that I’m still just as able to focus and be productive while listening to it as I am with any other track on the playlist.
Do you have a pile of papers that still need writing? Do you have a mountain of biochem homework to catch up on? Are you behind on your senior paper? Me too! Hopefully this playlist serves to help you catch up or, at the very least, introduces you to something new.
The Knight Shift — Daniel Lawhorne was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
