What I've Been Listening To #2 - Ease Yourself and Glide

This is What I've Been Listening To: an unimaginatively named weekly-ish post about whatever music I'm currently listening to and/or obsessed with.

There's a specific nanogenre of song I enjoy that I'm going to name Ride Cymbal Songs. They're mid-tempo with a laid-back vibe but also forward momentum. They sound more like a contemplative road trip than laying on the beach. As you've guessed, ride cymbals are a defining feature of this genre - playing steady eighth notes or a repeating pattern for the majority if not the entirety of the song. The timbre of the ride is an important part of the texture and is often treated with reverb or subtle filters. Pavement's Range Life and Tame Impala's Keep on Lying are two canonical examples.

Ease Yourself and Glide is an exemplary Ride Cymbal Song - richly textured and weightlessly chill. I can't help but picture a highway stretching out in front of me as I listen. Jam bands seem passe these days - brevity and precision are valued over perceived indulgence. This song though, with it's pastoral warmth and deeply satisfying groove is just begging to be extended with eight minutes of exploratory guitar solo.