Songs for the Aubade Issue (a selection)
Dear songbirds, as night comes to its end & dawn rises in air, full of tender colour & sacred sound, we’re thrilled to be sharing Half Mystic Journal’s Issue VII: Aubade with you so very soon. Issue VII comes out on June 8th & features poetry, prose, lyrics, & art by Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, Em Bartholet, Maureen Evans, Dina Hardy, Courtney Felle, Quinn Lui, Meriwether Clarke, SK Grout, Mina Yu, Rex Ybanez, Sandra Chen, Mia and Jonah, Tyler Summers, Daniel Gallie, Lynn Werner, & many more.
When the aubade issue speaks of hope, it does so with every knowledge of death as an old friend. When it speaks of hope it means baptism, reawakening, beginning. It means something sober yet mellifluous still, with a steady faith in how sunrise inevitably proves despair wrong. Issue VII knows it is impossible to sing & be afraid at the same time—& it knows too that the devil cannot stand mockery. You can preorder your copy right here.
If you haven’t yet submitted your work to Issue VII, we would be brilliantly honoured to consider it for publication! Send us your most prismatic & sun-stained writing & music. We welcome it with open arms.
In the mean time, in the space where spring & song intersect, we’re thrilled to share a small playlist the whole Half Mystic team is spinning as we work to curate Issue VII. A selection of songs for aubade: the dawn-dizzy dance—the first chords of warmth—the sun forgiving everything it touches…
“First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes
this is the first day of my life
I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
but now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you
and I'd probably be happy
“Sun It Rises” by Fleet Foxes
the sun rising, dangling there
golden and fair in the sky
“Crawling Towards the Sun” by the Hush Sound
that the shadows kept me hidden
from the light that calls my name
all the creatures stirred above me
now I'm crawling towards the sun
“Just Like Heaven” by the Cure
daylight licked me into shape
I must have been asleep for days
and moving lips to breathe her name
I opened up my eyes
“Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie
I want to live where soul meets body
and let the sun wrap its arms around me and
bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
and feel, feel what it's like to be new
“Warm Glow” by Hippo Campus
leaky churches
honey-burned tobacco leaves
girl, teal-eyed, do occupy this tree with me
summer peelings
“Green Garden” by Laura Mvula
take me outside, sit in the green garden
nobody out there, but it’s okay now
bathe in the sunlight, the money frame falls
“Island in the Sun” by Weezer
you can't find the words to say
all the things that come to you
and I want to feel it too
”Nobody” by Mitski
my god, I'm so lonely
so I open the window
to hear sounds of people
to hear sounds of people
“Bike Dream” by Rostam
but I'm sure that you'll catch your breath
you'll sleep into the day
to wake up with sunlight across your room
“Firefly” by BANNERS
diamond skies flickering
like fading fires still burning
against it all
we'll keep on rising
”Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac
well, I've been afraid of changing
'cause I've built my life around you
but time makes you bolder
even children get older
and I'm getting older, too
”Shrike” by Hozier
remember me, love, when I'm reborn
as the shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn
“The Only Exception” by Paramore
I've got a tight grip on reality, but I can't
let go of what's in front of me here
I know you’re leaving in the morning when you wake up
leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream
“Stay with Me” by Sam Smith
these nights never seem to go to plan
I don't want you to leave, will you hold my hand?
“Going to Georgia” by Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties
the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you
and that you are standing in the doorway
“Under the Same Sun” by Ben Howard
and I hope like a child
widow of the sea
I hold these arms around you
all's around me