It’s such a Monday. It’s one of those low-energy kinds of days but I did wake up to an absolute delight: about an inch of snow blanketing all that I could see.

It’s marvelous, isn’t it? I’m still filled with such childlike wonder whenever I wake up to a fresh snowfall. It never gets old, and one of the reasons why Banff in the winter is one of my favorite places in the world.

If not for the snow, today would have been an absolute wreck. In a sense, it still was, but the snow made it bearable. On such a bummer of a day, I could not bring myself to listen to my usual December time Christmas jams. The happy ones were far too saccharine, the ones about heartbreak were a bit on-the-nose. I put together a playlist of ethereal wintertime melodies for just such an occasion: angsty, moody, other-worldly, soundtracks from the Nordics and the Pacific Northwest or by folks who otherwise find energy in the darkness of winter.

It also makes great work music. Enjoy.

xo, e.m.