June is an odd month. Every year, we remember it as the beginning of summer, but that’s only a semi-accurate memory. Summer doesn’t actually begin until three weeks in, after all. And when June does arrive, it’s rarely quite as warm as you expected; swimming holes are still a little chilly. (Although, you’ll suffer through it anyway if you’re like me.) And, growing up, if you attended high school in New England (like I did), the semester was still mostly in session, giving the bulk of the month a distinct waiting room glow.
This month’s playlist, you’ll find, is very Dawson’s Creek inspired, partly because I live my life perennially in the middle of re-watching the entire series. Somehow, I never (surprise) seem to tire of the self-indulgent navel-gazing that the show depends on, in all of its earnest corniness and time devoted to sulking around the town docks. But I think more than that, Dawson’s Creek is a cultural artifact that I associate with those sleepier, slower summer days that aren’t as hazy as, say, August’s, but which feel hazier, somehow, anyway.
Before you and your friends went through your early-twenties partying phase. Before your Instagram feed turned into a tour of other people’s summer weddings for three months out of the year. Before you completely realized that adults generally have to work through the summer, just as they do during any other season of the year and that the laziness of the season is really only granted on the young and the privileged. Those are the Junes I ache for the most. Before the FOMO-oriented pressure to ramp weekend energy up to a dizzying volume was even a blip on the social media radar. You’re turning the volume up but you never completely max out. A bit of nostalgia, a bit of sun; but some cooler nights, too.
Fridays can come any day of the week. Here is how we think they sound in June.
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