Are you in search of music that could accompany you through an altered state? Just looking to make your music library a little dreamier? Regardless of how you choose to spend a totally normal Wednesday in April, here are some floatier tunes to add to your playlist. 

“Oh, What a World 2.0 – Earth Day Edition” by Kacey Musgraves

The groundbreaking release of Kacey Musgraves’ fourth album, “Golden Hour,” was immediately met with vast praise. Beautiful instrumentals complemented with vulnerable, emotionally-charged lyrics complete the album. She wrote the song “Oh, What a World” while under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, as well as another song from the album, “Slow Burn.” 

The Earth Day edition of “Oh, What a World” was released on Earth Day in 2020, featuring a lengthened intro with a more tropical feel and added parts to the instrumental. It overall boasts a more ethereal, floaty feel — perfect for that playlist, not to be blunt. 

“Believe In Yourself (The Arthur Theme Song)” by The Magic Gang 

There’s something nostalgic in having a song from your childhood woven through a very much not childhood experience. The cymbal swells in the beginning of the song are met with a very fitting bass line, walking up the fretboard until the vocals come in. 

The tempo and mood of this cover of the theme song of “Arthur,” the hit kids’ television program that first aired in 1996, are much slower than the original featured in the show’s title sequence. Using reverb-rich vocals, some watery guitar tracks and masterful percussion, this slow funk rendition deserves a spot high on your playlist. 

“5,000,000,000 Years” by Whitaker

This song is enchanting from the get-go, thanks to an organ synth and a percussion track that has a captivating, lagging feel. I found this song in 2015 in search of additions to my feel-better playlist and stumbled upon Whitaker’s album, “I Am an Animal.” 

The lyrics I heard in “5,000,000,000 Years” were reassuring to the insecure high-schooler I was at the time: “don’t do it, don’t give it up, don’t hide your love away.” Brighter, twinkly tracks are woven through the chorus as one line is repeated like a consoling affirmation: “I’ll be holding you to it.” 

“What I’m Becoming” by Cage The Elephant 

I used to hold anger towards this song for having a near-identical drum intro to “Gasoline” by HAIM, one of my favorite songs. After waiting long enough for a haunting instrumental melody to come in after the drum intro simmers down, I was hooked on “What I’m Becoming.” 

Cage The Elephant is no stranger to musical genius; other personal favorites include “Trouble,” “Aberdeen” and “Come a Little Closer.” The lyrics are stacked with imagery, alluding to an out-of-body stage of being, opening with the line “slowly drift across the floor, can’t escape my mind.”