But rest and relaxation are clearly on a lot of people's minds right now.įor more proof, just take a look at Spotify's front page, where the mood- and activity-themed playlists include at least 16 dedicated to sleep-from 'Atmospheric Calm' and 'Sleep Tight' (featuring Brian Eno, Nils Frahm, and yoga soundtracks), to 'A Sudden Rainstorm' and 'White Noise'. Bridges' album was, in many ways, a gag-it was too engaging to function as an efficient means of dropping off. Then there's Jeff Bridges' Sleeping Tapes, from earlier this year, in which the Big Lebowski star murmured genially over a downy ambient backing. Just consider the British composer Max Richter's new album Sleep,which lasts eight hours and is intended, Richter says, as 'my personal lullaby for a frenetic world.' Its premiere last month even took the form of an overnight concert in London where the audience members dozed on cots. That all-nighter nearly 30 years ago feels particularly relevant today as a number of artists revisit the link between music and sleep. The musicians were hardly offended, though: This was one of Hayman's Dreamsoundevents, and falling asleep was the point. The room gradually filled with a soft chorus of deep breathing, and eventually a barely-audible tape of what the Village Voice critic Kyle Gann described as 'beautiful, wave-patterned organ music.' After that, it's hard to know exactly how the performance went, because Gann fell asleep along with the rest of the room, save for Hayman and Pollitt.

Hayman and his assistant, Barbara Pollitt, commenced their performance in earnest.Īs the attendees tucked themselves in, Hayman and Pollitt played minimalist patterns on flute and harp. Soon, milk and cookies were passed around, and an artist named R.I.P. A fireplace crackled on a video monitor, and Bach's Goldberg Variations played quietly.

It was a cold January evening in 1988, but the setting was soothing inside New York City’s Penine Hart Gallery, with incense and lavender wafting through the air. The two-dozen concertgoers spread out their sleeping bags on the ground and settled in for a long night.

Psychedelic sleepytime music