Whether you’re experiencing a rare snowy day, trying to get through a harsh winter, or just daydreaming of winter weather, the right soundtrack can heighten the sense of serenity and whimsy that comes with the season. The feeling of waking up to a world that is softened, slowed down, and painted in a white blanket of snow infuses a bit of extraordinary emotion into our sometimes ordinary lives. The changing of seasons always ushers in a need for music, new and old, that captures the accompanying emotions. These ten tracks evoke the quiet, beauty, nostalgic warmth, and oftentimes, loneliness, that can come with a snowy day. From introspective instrumentals to dreamy, slow-burning melodies, let these songs carry you to a snowy soundscape, wherever and however it resonates with you.
"Falling Colour" - Vanbur
Vanbur’s “Falling Colour” is an ethereal and dreamy song, perfect for embracing the cinematic experience of snow falling. From the start, the track is laced with a reverberating string sound and haunting background vocals. The composer duo, Jessica Jones and Tim Morrish released the track in 2020 and it was later popularized by the 2024 Netflix series One Day. The song ebbs and flows, ushering in a delicate, fleeting violin melody that slowly ascends into an orchestral crescendo. The first minute or so feels like the start of a snowfall, and as it goes on, the quickening strings and repetitive vocals make you feel as if you’re leaping, running, and playing in the snow. The song was written to evoke the feeling of a rainstorm building up to finally breaking, providing the ideal song for a day spent admiring and romanticizing snow.
"Winter is Blue" - Vashti Bunyan
Folk singer Vashti Bunyan came onto the scene in 1970 with the release of her album Just Another Diamond Day. The record only sold a few hundred copies, and for the next few decades, her music career lay stagnant despite being hailed as somewhat of a cult classic. She was rediscovered in the 2000s and has since released three more albums. Bunyan’s first work was written during her experience traveling across the UK on a horse-drawn wagon, a journey that took her two years to complete. This connection to nature, spirit of adventure, and freedom is present throughout the album, the whole work is a kind of ode to childlike spontaneity and wonder. In the album, Bunyan’s young, ethereal voice reorients the listeners to a worldview that centers liberation and play.
"Winter is blue / Everything's leaving / Fires are now burning / And life has no reason"
“Winter is Blue” is soft and dreamy, with Bunyan’s atmospheric vocals ushered in by a delicate string melody that pushes and pulls throughout the song. The arrangement is sparse, giving space to her voice. Her lyricism pulls us into an icy winter day in the countryside, conveying a chill melancholy picture that is melodic and reflective. The whole album would be fitting for a day appreciating nature's magic.
"Agoraphobia" - Deerhunter
While this track from indie rock group Deerhunter is relatively simple in melody, its instrumentation and lyricism layer together to build a lonely, complex, reflective, and shadowy song. It is written from the perspective of someone succumbing to agoraphobia. Frontman Bradford Cox's voice paints a fantasy world in which the narrator is severed from the rest of the world, isolated and unstimulated. The lyrics plead for complete disintegration, asking to be covered, comforted, and declaring that they want to disappear.
"Come for me / Comfort me / And after some time / I know I would go blind / But seeing only binds the vision to the eye / I’d lose my voice I know but I’ve nothing left to say"
While the track's quickening rhythm and guitar lends the song depth and a happy, careless feel, the solemn lyrics and loose vocals give in to the fantasy of detachment, making the listener feel like they’re floating in a reflective dreamy soundscape. This makes it the perfect song for a snow day—a meditation on the feeling of hibernation, playing into the fantasy of receding from the outside world to feel only isolation, warmth, and comfort.
"Astoria - Original Recording" - STRFKR
This is the original recording of “Astoria,” released as a part of the band's Heaven’s Youth (Reptillian Demos) album, which included all of the original recordings of STRFKR songs from 2011's Reptilian. In his characteristic crooning vocals, Josh Hodges gently accompanies a warm acoustic intro, yearning for a simple life.
The version originally released on Reptillian is harder, encompassing the band’s typical fun, experimental, electronic-pop style. The song’s crooning refrain is there, just in a way that makes you think less of dreamy snow days and more of upbeat social events. In the demo version, the repetitive guitar melody is eventually infused with more strings and quickening percussion, liberated and made lighter by the combination. The song is happy and hopeful, with a bright, floating quality that reflects a cozy cold day at home or the hope that carries us through harsh winters. Although the soft acoustic sound strays from the typical dance style associated with STRFKR, their distinct musicality is present in a stripped-down and vulnerable form. They have many instrumental releases worth checking out, including their 2020 Ambient 1 album, written in the throes of the pandemic. The album is peaceful, floating and drifting through blends of acoustics and synth bells, sparkling like snow glistening.
"Snowqueen of Texas" - The Mamas and the Papas
This track was written by The Mamas and the Papas as a part of their 1971 album People Like Us, a work only produced and put out to avoid legal trouble with their label, Dunhill Records. The company had threatened each band member with a $250 million lawsuit, motivating them to make an album that was largely commercially unsuccessful and is still widely criticized by fans for its inauthenticity and diversion from the band’s typical style.
The Mamas and the Papas are an invaluable part of the counterculture movement, and this song, often overlooked due to its place on People Like Us, perfectly encapsulates the fun, mellowed energy and instrumentation that has always characterized their sound. Many of the album’s songs were recorded with ex-Motown and Jazz musicians, bringing a more soulful, groovy feel to the table. The song is a dedication to cult model Deborah Dixon, and though the lyrics don't refer to a winter day, the joyful tones invoked by bell chimes bring a fun, light, playful energy that may accompany snow.
"I'm on my knees your majesty / Snowqueen, save a cold kiss for me"
"Together" - Misha Panfilov
This joyful, meditative track from Estonian composer Misha Panfilov perfectly encapsulates the wonder and awe evoked by walking through a snowy landscape. Panfilov is known for his masterful multi-instrumental compositions, exemplified by his 2020 Days As Echoes. Much like the other tracks on the album, the song is mellow, jazzy, and light, with a slight groove and a distinct vintage-like sound. I find it to be a fitting backdrop for warm spring days and snowy winter days alike.
"Our House (Demo)" - Graham Nash & Joni Mitchell
This classic song was made popular by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and released on Déjà Vu. The lyrics and jolly piano riffs make it a warm evocation of home and the feeling of domestic bliss. I am a big fan of the demo version, released by Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell in 1970 after the pair wrote it together in Mitchell’s Laurel Canyon home. Mitchell and Nash were briefly romantically involved from 1968 to 1970, and Joni was the only person outside of CSNY to witness their voices together initially. The legendary couple served as one anothers' muses during their short relationship, with themes culminating in iconic songs like “Our House”, Mitchell’s “River”, and even Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”, a track he wrote to help Nash through the breakup.
Nash has recalled the day “Our House” was written in several interviews, noting that it was a dreary and cold day when they retired to Mitchell’s home after an outing. Nash suggested Mitchell put flowers in the vase she’d just purchased from an antique store, and the song came alive at her piano. The track is loving and warm, imitating the feeling of coming home to a loved one or loved place and shutting out the rest of the world. It is a song appropriate for Sundays, snow days, and cozy moments in between.
"Olsen Olsen" - Sigur Ros
This song comes from Sigur Ros’ 1999 Ágætis Byrjun. Its powerful instrumentation and floating vocals lend it a celebratory energy. Most of the album’s vocals were recorded in Icelandic, but this song uses Vonkleska, or Hopelandic, a language invented by lead singer Jónsi Birgisson. The language has no explicit meaning but is composed only of repetitive, emotive human vocals woven into the group's characteristically atmospheric, joyful instrumentation.
In “Olsen Olsen”, Vonkleska is used in vocals that oscillate and blend with a heavy bass line. As it builds, strings join in, and the song breaks into a floating flute interlude. The eight-minute track is a steady, peaceful ascension in their characteristic cinematic style. It's difficult to listen to their music without imagining a drive through icy valleys and snow-capped mountains.
"Winter's Love" - Animal Collective
“Winter’s Love” begins with a long acoustic guitar intro layered with drifting background vocals that are soft but rhythmic. About two minutes in, the song explodes into a joyful, celebratory dance, its peak a cascade of heavy percussion and quickening acoustic strums, uplifted by Avey Tare and Panda Bear’s harmonious backing vocals. The sounds make you feel like you’re witnessing a snowball fight among kids and a live session among young musicians simultaneously, with each scene giving way to a spontaneous, playful sound. It is a youthful and vibrant track to recall childhood snow days and shed light on dark winter months.
"And winter's love where could she be / She's warming in my pocket"
"Change" - Big Thief
This song is my go-to for any season change—weather-related or not. Adrianne Lenker’s distinct voice drifts gently over a laid-back acoustic guitar and light percussion, philosophizing over the ever-changing nature of our lives and the world around us. Big Thief is a master of linking the natural to the interpersonal, tapping into a subliminal connection between despair and hope. The song is about bearing witness to life’s changes with understanding and appreciation, knowing that everything is connected and thus nothing ever really ends.
"Would you stare forever at the sun / Never watch the moon rising / Would you walk forever in the light / To never learn the secret of the quiet night"
The heartwrenching lyrics and melody confront and comfort, ushering in mournful reflection and hopeful reckoning. You could imagine listening to the song draped in a blanket, hand wrapped around a warm cup of tea, as you watch snowflakes fall and consider what the snow melting may bring.
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Check out all of the songs from this article and more in the playlist below:
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