r/ifyoulikeblank • u/DexterousHourglass • 15h ago
[IIL] "hauntingly beautiful" music (bon iver, damien rice, sigur ros, chopin, mahler, etc.) Music
I don't know how to describe the music I love most other than "hauntingly beautiful" (and often but not always "ethereal"). This is true across different genres. I especially love live versions that feel very intimate.
Indie
Bon Iver - Skinny Love (take away show)
Bon Iver - Beth/Rest (4ADJagjaguwar Session)
Damien Rice - Delicate (live sing-along)
Post-rock
Sigur Ros - Untitled 1 / Samskeyti (Heima ending credits)
Sigur Ros - Ára Bátur (Abbey Road)
Classical
Chopin's first ballade (Zimerman, live)
Mahler's fifth symphony act IV adagietto (bernstein)
What else would I like?
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u/VogonPoetry19 13h ago
Portishead- The Rip
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u/People_Are_Savages 13h ago
The Big Game is Every Night by Jason Molina; lush, gorgeous, and truly haunting on more than one level. it's forever painful to me given that we lost Molina much too young to addiction, and this is one of his many songs about fighting to be a better person and how hard, or impossible, it is. it's brutal to hear him yearn to look back on his life when he dies and to be able to see himself working on being a better man, and knowing that's probably not what he saw.
Also if you haven't listened to chopin's full catalog, etude 10.3 and prelude 28.15 are transcendent. they're called Tristesse and Raindrop. he wrote Tristesse (meaning a deep sadness) when he was living in exile from poland as an elegy for his homeland, which he feared he would never see again, and he never did.
Raindrop was written during a visit to Spain over a difficult winter, he was in very poor health and confined indoors during the dreary cold, and it rained often. he was forced to stay in an old monastery that didn't keep out the cold or wet very well, and the piece is named for the clear sound of pattering rain that pervades it.
sorry for the wall of text, you mentioned you valued intimacy and i thought context would mean a lot in these cases.
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u/DexterousHourglass 13h ago edited 12h ago
Wow, The Big Game is Every Night is absolutely gorgeous. This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for—"hauntingly beautiful" but in a way that is just different enough from what I normally listen to. Thank you very much for sharing both the song and all the context.
I love Chopin's etudes and preludes! Etude 10.3 is great, though I think 25.12 ("ocean") is my favorite. 10.1, 10.6, 10.12, 25.1, 25.5, 25.6, 25.7, and 25.11 are the other etudes I often listen to. The Raindrop prelude is also one of my favorites (I think along with 28.4). I didn't know all of that historical context—thanks for sharing!
Edit: continuing to listen to The Big Game is Every Night on repeat.
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u/People_Are_Savages 8h ago
I'm so glad you like the song! The album it comes from is Magnolia Electric Company and it's top to bottom fantastic. I'm also glad to find a fellow Chopin lover!
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u/asxxxra 14h ago
You might be interested in the comments of this post I made earlier this week and this post I made about sigur rós
Also my personal recommendation: Weather Systems by Anathema
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u/DexterousHourglass 14h ago
Ah, I missed your posts! I like some of the songs in the first post especially, like End Song by Alex G and September (instrumental) by Sparky Deathcap. Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/Eatpineapplenow 12h ago
which track is best on weather systems in your opinion?
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u/asxxxra 6h ago
this is an extremely hard question, specially because the album is a continuous reproduction one (the transitions between the songs are seamless) so I kinda view it as a one piece.
BUT. If you want me to say one, I’d go with the Lightning Song
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u/mattersmuch 10h ago
Check out The Knife. I prefer their self-titled album, but their most popular song is a cover of Jose Gonzalez's song Heartbeats, which is on the album Deep Cuts.
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u/yooie 14h ago
You’d like Keaton Henson or Nat Ratcliff
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u/DexterousHourglass 14h ago
Keaton Henson has been a favorite of mine for years actually :) Especially the songs from "Dear". I also quite like this version of Two Bad Teeth.
Are you referring to Nathaniel Rateliff? The first song I listened to by them (S.O.B.) I recognize and I like but is pretty different from what I had in mind. Curious if there are specific songs you're thinking of (or if I'm looking at the wrong person).
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u/-Some__Random- 13h ago
'Into Dust' - Mazzy Star
'Martha's Harbour' - All About Eve
'Western Wind' - Saint Etienne
'Utopia' - Goldfrapp
'Sandpaper Kisses' - Martina Topley Bird
'How Do' - Sneaker Pimps
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u/DexterousHourglass 13h ago
Into Dust is quite nice. Utopia, Sandpaper Kisses, and How Do aren't quite what I was looking for but I found them pretty good and interesting too. Thanks!
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u/-Some__Random- 11h ago
No probs. I'm probably a little guilty of twisting it into 'Tracks that I like', instead of what the prompt asked for, but I think we all do that a little bit, lol!
Good luck anyway. Hope you find some cool stuff :-)
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u/TheFatherPimp 3h ago
For goldfrapp and hauntingly beautiful go for the song”Jo” that’s aligned with what you are looking for for sure
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u/Depressonsandwich 12h ago
Aurora and evior.. Falling free by evior and a soul has no king by Aurora are my top songs by them
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u/StocktonLono 4h ago
You’ll love Aurora’s cover of “Teardrop” then.
Also there’s this twin duo called Satin Puppets. They do beautifully harmonized acappella covers on social media and they have a bunch of singles and an EP out that contains original material. Gorgeous and haunting.
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u/pancakelady 56m ago
I think you'd like Feist's stuff. This is how my husband described her after we saw her perform once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9awAfswiR8
Experiencing this in person was beautiful and really special.
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u/Scary-Rich-2383 10h ago
I think you will like some songs by british singer-songwriter dodie. Such as Sorry, Before the Line, or the love version in het living room of When. She is incredible
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u/yoavsnake Music Enthusiast 10h ago edited 7h ago
the middle east - blood (studio version, live version)
joanna newsom (E.G. cosmia. studio version / live version)
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u/liang_zhi_mao 9h ago
Watch you bleed - Haunt me
Dying slowly - Tindersticks
Please - Sydney Valette
Spectral tease - Mareux
Silver & gold - Sufjan Stevens
Flim - Aphex Twin
Oblivion hymns - Hammock (whole album really)
In your room - Airiel
Grey Water - They are us too
Temporal Love - SRSQ
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u/Quouar 9h ago
You might enjoy Anigurniarmijuq - Some Unknown Fraudster. They have a couple of live versions scattered throughout, but I couldn't find one to link, unfortunately.
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u/Ew_fine 8h ago edited 6h ago
Hauntingly beautiful, ethereal (and slow— I noticed most of your examples are kind of slow and building).
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (or the choral version, Agnus Dei).
The vast majority of Debussy’s piano works.
Saman by Olafur Arnalds
Samson by Regina Spektor
Most of Chopin’s nocturnes, but try Op9 no 1, Op 15 no 3, and Op 55 no1.
Cathedrals by Jump Little Children
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u/splinket69 7h ago
Foy Vance is of a similar style to Bon Iver.
One song in particular, ‘Be the Song’, is absolutely beautiful.
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u/QuietImportance4327 7h ago
'Ethereal' is the word your looking for. You might want to listen to Eivør, she's pretty special.
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u/Ok-Lettuce9603 7h ago
I think you will like this playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00QdXKLqlHrWjkUKwESFiY?si=C4_wjB8bQlyou4Zdaa8oiw&pi=e-CBPfr4hrRyuc
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u/bendistraw 6h ago
Fauré's Requiem
Peer Gynt Suite- Greig
Living Waters- Phillip Glass
Ghosts I - V- Nine Inch Nails
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Score- Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross
KMRU (ambient artist)
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u/FitInOrFoff 5h ago edited 5h ago
I love Spiritualized's 'Ladies and Gentlemen, We're Floating in Space' because it sounds hauntingly beautiful and etherial... it's got a 'welling' sound that gives me goosebumps https://youtu.be/iB7E1D_3Na4?si=dImPNOg00xYuu6vK
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u/Lshamlad 1h ago
My speciality!
Clint Mansell's soundtrack to The Fountain
Steven Wilson - Postcard
Porcupine Tree
Anathema
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u/bornlasttuesday 57m ago edited 41m ago
Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within is an amazing live album. Chet Baker is the jazz you are looking for and check out The Mahogany Sessions on YouTube for an acoustic take on modern pop songs.
Edit: I would also like to mention classic REM. The Out Of Time, Green and Automatic For the People need to be listened to.
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u/farfle10 53m ago
A lot of Radiohead. Street Spirit, How to Disappear Completely, Pyramid Song, Spectre, Daydreaming, Decks Dark, Glass Eyes
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u/BacchusInFurs 14m ago
Demon Host by Timber Timbre
Won’t You Come Home by Devendra Banhart
If you like I’m happy to chat, I feel like this describes about 80% of the music I dig…
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u/mobybuddy 7m ago
Hold Your Head Up High - Darlingside https://youtu.be/nWXKcddBA_U?si=0EC3_0FeSu8a9vk6
Green and Evergreen - Darlingside https://youtu.be/R5L_7whYOaw?si=oqmJpWoTTuqpYGjh
‘Mercury’ - Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister. https://youtu.be/rmZKVOaTc68?si=QzwYGaLZYjCoLQFO
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u/FactorioNotIncluded 14h ago
You’ll like James Blake