“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”

― Socrates

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If wonder is the beginning of wisdom, let’s listen to all that inspires. Coming into spring, as the southern hemisphere blossoms, so should our sense of awe – bracing ourselves for all the possibility that is yet to flourish. We say ‘salut!’ with Salut and their track Air, which feels like we are being carried like blossom on a breeze into Roger Doyle’s Spring is Coming with a Strawberry in the Mouth, a pleasant reminder to eat more fruit and that ‘above all else, [we] want to be loved.' 

Once mechanical synths have decayed away, we are grounded by more the more organic guitars of Half Japanese, in their wonderous world of wonderous wonder, giving us a ‘brand new start for a brand heart.’ Cass McCombs follows with his take on a new earth, birds return to their homes and junkies are reborn as a new utopia comes to us after a very, very bad day. We fall into the Moonshine of Nightlands and visit Paris in 1985. HAAi embraces the wonder of bodies of water, whilst Puro Instinct remind us of the subjective nature of awe – after all, it’s what we see that give us a sense of all-encompassing beauty. 

From the magnetic fields of Alex Chiltern, to the Mother of Pearl of Scribble, then to the Wild Flowers of Mark Lanegan, this playlist should promote diverse sensations, speaking to all aspects of amazement. Angel Olsen takes us to a fascinating Dream Time, followed closely by Poly Styrene’s version of a surreal and lo-fi dreaming. 

As we ground ourselves in a spring that is being sprung, we realise that Louis wasn’t wrong, as we think to ourselves, it’s a wonderful world.

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