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Oil painting of a sunny landscape with lush green grass and leaves, where a man reclines on his back with relief as a small white dog looks on — Konstantin Somov (Russian, 1869–1939). *The Stroller’s Rest*, 1939. Oil on canvas. Private collection

In May 2024, I published Shades of Blue’s inaugural Melancholy Mixtape, the first in an ongoing series you and I could turn to anytime for a dose of calm, connection, and healing.

In the series’ early days, I simply aimed to share the melancholy moments playing endlessly in my mind, each new mixtape offered as a love letter to music that transports us, emotionally and spiritually, to otherworldly realms of bliss. But my curation process soon morphed into something altogether different, as I began reflecting on the relationship between the music I longed to hear in that moment and the state of the world around me.

Recurring themes emerged from these musical explorations — some mixtapes mirrored the change of seasons in Minnesota, while others offered relief and respite during turbulent times. Over time, I realized the true mission of these mixtapes: To inspire radical hope and renewed possibility in our broken yet beautiful world.

Two years and 12 mixtapes later, I continue to be awed by everyone who has commented or written to express their thanks for the calm, introspective moments they’ve cultivated through these mixtapes. I’ve always believed that sharing music is an act of love, and it moves me to see these offerings received with such grace.

Part of the mixtape’s allure is the chance to forge connections across artist and genre, place and time, weaving together what would initially appear to be disparate works of art into a vibrant tapestry of collective emotion. So for this month’s mixtape, I’ve brought together seven of my favorite moments from past Melancholy Mixtapes — some lifelong favorites, others fresh discoveries at the time — to spur new connections and intimate conversations.

Whether you’re revisiting these selections with me or experiencing them for the first time today, I hope you enjoy this month’s mixtape.

Sharing music is an act of love. 💙 Send this mixtape to someone who could use a dose of calm and beauty.

After a long, cold winter, the warm breezes of spring ignite feelings of desire in a young poet, the blossoming flowers around him mirroring the love and longing growing in his heart. “In the magnificent month of May, as all the birds were singing,” the poet softly sings, “there I confessed to her my longing and desire.”

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Fort Smith Symphony
John Jeter, conductor

Muted trumpets and shimmering flutes evoke the luminous moonlight flickering across the waters of Alabama’s Gulf coast, setting in motion a mesmerizing nocturne inspired by a Joseph Mitchell Pilcher poem:

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The moon seems asleep in the down sky
and the tired sea-tide gropes along the sand;
the chill wind is singing a low lullaby
to the dream-like orb and the languid strand.

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Renée Fleming, soprano
English Chamber Orchestra
Jeffrey Tate, conductor
(Follow along with the German text and English translation.)

A widower named Paul befriends Marietta, a dancer who bears a striking resemblance to Paul’s recently deceased wife, Marie. As the sun sets one evening, he asks Marietta to sing one of Marie’s favorite songs — a hushed lullaby that in its final lines assures Paul his grief and loss will give way to enduring love:

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Though somber sorrows approach,
move closer to me, my faithful love.
Tilt your pale face —
death will not separate us.
If you must leave me one day,
know that we will rise again.

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Bruce Liu, piano

With its muted minor-key harmonies and a serpentine melody that slithers across the keyboard, Satie’s gnossienne — a reference to Knossos, the ancient capital of Crete — arrests and hypnotizes the heart, drawing us into a shadowy landscape laced with a sense of infinity.

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Mannheim String Quartet
Joachim Griesheimer, cello

Mystery and suspense permeate Smyth’s noirish dance for five string players (two violins, one viola, two cellos) — the coarse, burnished voice of the viola leading the way as the players journey between moments of frisky flirtation and overwhelming intensity.

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Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

An ever-shifting sea of broken chords flows across time, pierced only by a delicate tolling of bells, as if from a distant church. “The music does indeed seem to defy gravity,” Ólafsson says of Glass’s hypnotic score, its “gorgeous melodies appearing out of nowhere only to quickly disappear into the void.”

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Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Dawn breaks over a lush, enchanted garden, where fairies flutter about, beckoning each flower to rise and witness the miracle of sunrise. As dew drops fall to the ground like tears and light shimmers across each blade of grass, the music swells to a grand chorus of praise for nature’s majestic beauty.

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Want to share your experience with one of the works in this month’s mixtape? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below or reply to this email.

Melancholy Mixtape / Second Anniversary Edition

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