Doctors at the University of Alberta in Canada recently confirmed something that anyone with half a brain already knows: Music soothes the savage beast.
Specifically, they explained that playing comforting lullabies and even Mozart to premature babies during painful medical procedures results in faster recoveries and shorter hospital stays.
The Alberta team is not the first to realize, or scientifically confirm, that music has the power to heal or even harm. (Ask subjects of musical torture about that when you get a chance.) For my part, I've been playing music for my 2-year-old daughter since she was born, and her mother has been singing to her since she was in the womb. Here's a sampling of music we think makes for some serious baby-soothing.
Cocteau Twins, Victorialand
The researchers at Alberta examined the use of lullabies, including a wordless one sung by a female and accompanied by a harp. That pretty much describes this ethereal classic, in which singer Elizabeth Fraser, most likely the most angelic vocalist of all time, teamed up with guitarist Robin Guthrie's reverberating acoustics to create a sonic dream-state that is without peer. The only effort that comes close is Cocteau Twins' team-up with ambient pianist Harold Budd on The Moon and the Melodies, which contains the band's hypnotic classic "She Will Destroy You." From the soft, dawning opener "Lazy Calm" to the eerie closer "The Thinner the Air," Victorialand is, like the Antarctic territory it was named after, a sprawling expanse filled with possibility. Any Cocteau Twins album would probably heal a baby's mind without problem, but Victorialand is beyond a sure thing. It's a must.
Angelo Badalamenti, Twin Peaks (Season One TV Soundtrack)
David Lynch has always had a gift for merging innocence, beauty and horror unlike anyone else. And what could be more horrific than being plucked from prenatal stasis into a deafening chaos ahead of schedule? Plus, Lynch was always a Cocteau Twins fan, making this soundtrack to his pioneering television series a no-brainer complement to Victorialand. Julee Cruise is his Elizabeth Fraser, and she's got celestial pipes to spare. Like the moody television series itself, Cruise's voice is complemented by Angelo Badalamenti's deeply emotional compositions, which swell and recede like the tide. All of the songs are hypnagogic pleasures, especially "Twin Peaks Theme," "Laura Palmer's Theme" and the Cruise-d closer, "Falling." Just try to ignore the Bob visions while playing them. There's no reason to hand down your own personal terrors to the next generation, at least not right away.
Bob Marley and the Wailers, Catch a Fire
The bouncing, lilting rhythm of reggae was born of the nearby ocean that sustained its evolution. That alone is reason why, out of all musical genres, reggae is a fail-safe soundtrack for babies on the rise or on the mend. Catch a Fire is arguably the greatest reggae album of all time, so it's a match made in womblike heaven. The sociopolitical lyrics in songs like Bob Marley's antipoverty classic "Concrete Jungle" or Peter Tosh's antislavery ballad "400 Years" are a bit heavy for budding brains, but you might as well build a conscience while you're building a baby, right? Literacy never can come too early, especially when it is wrapped in such warm compositions.
Tortoise, TNT
Mashing rock, jazz, dub, electronica and experimental music into one seriously cool breeze of an album, Tortoise released in 1998 what could arguably be called the band's best effort. Its beatcraft is a bit more complex than the aforementioned selections, which are comparatively simple and straightforward. But complexity is what evolution is all about, right? Not that TNT doesn't host some simple, beautiful pleasures. "In Sarah, Mencken and Christ There Were Women and Men" is perhaps the most mellow, gorgeous vibe the Chicago-based band has ever created. The diluted flamenco of "I Set My Face to the Hillside," which starts with the ambient sounds of children laughing at a playground, is similarly wondrous. But if your baby needs something a bit more kinetic to get him or her through recovery, the jazzy title track or krautrock velocity of "Jetty" ought to get his or her heartbeat ticking to perfection. Speaking of hearty beats ...
Bowery Electric, Lushlife
The last effort from this underrated atmospheric duo — one of the first to perform onstage with a laptop, sampler and sequencer — is probably its most accessible, even to newborns. Songs like "Freedom Fighter" are perhaps a bit jarring, but mesmerizing tracks like "Soul City," "Saved" and "Deep Blue" are beyond soothing. Martha Schwendener's seductive coo is like having a sonic mother in your ear, and Lawrence Chandler's beats remain addictive. One of the last releases of the so-called trip-hop era, Lushlife deserves rediscovery, as does the band itself. Its early releases are ear candy for wall-of-sound guitar fiends, but its last full-length is a treasure trove for babies. By the time they can dance on their own two feet, they'll be old enough to thank you for turning them onto a band few adults have ever heard of.
Don't like what you hear, er, read? Add your own selections in the comments section below.
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