Collage by Patrick Ferris.

To me, summer has always felt like one long interim period: eight weeks where I am stuck in limbo. I no longer belong to the year/grade level I’ve just completed, but I still don’t belong to what lies ahead. Feeling isolated by summer while being nostalgic about the past year and its experiences–all while trying to forecast what things will look like in the months ahead–can be a crazy whirlwind of emotions. And that’s why summer tends to have such distinct tales and memories–it’s the meeting ground for isolation, nostalgia, and prophetic thoughts in pieces or all at once. In this playlist, I’ve tried to encapsulate the feelings that this eight week interim period can bring. It starts with songs that have a nostalgic passion to them and then fades into songs about leaving and isolation and feeling stuck, before zooming back out into songs that talk about the future in dreams. This playlist is structured like my emotional cycle in the summer. The way I am pensive and nostalgic about what I’ve just finished in the beginning of the summer, anxious and hopeful as I return to school, and all the foggy, lonely areas in between. ♦