Agnes Obel Won’t Fix Monday

Monday arrives like it always does—without apology, ahead of schedule, pressing down before coffee has a chance to help. I’ve never made peace with it. But I’ve found a workaround.

The mixtape "Set Yourself On Colors" is what I put on when the week needs softening. Agnes Obel’s piano for the cold-morning feeling, Two Door Cinema Club for when the tempo needs lifting, Bat for Lashes for the strange hollow hours in between. Best of the eighties, the nineties, and whatever’s sharp right now, folded together into something that makes the commute—or the couch—feel less like a sentence being served.

Music as survival mechanism isn’t a new idea. It’s just an honest one. The weekend collapses into memory faster than it should and suddenly you’re back at the beginning of something that feels longer than it is. A playlist doesn’t fix that. But it gives you something to hold onto while you wait for Friday to come back around.