Sleep Song

Like a fuzzy shag carpet metronome, this Sleep Song begins with the metered pads of a synth rippling out, and reverberating to the edge of awareness. A reassuring celeste seems to voice that it's truly okay to let the day drift away, to let its joyful voice take you. Falling further in, the sounds move apart, separating from one another, and sliding out of sync. But the charming tintinnabulation of the celeste catches everything, gathering discord into slow drifts of assurance, encouraging a transition to deep rest.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Can you zoom in and notice the fine sounds of finger pads pressing keys, the piano's felted hammers making contact? Today's Sleep Song is an invitation to play with perspective. Written during a California rainstorm, it's a cozy blanket of comfort and hope for moments when the world is topsy-turvy. Kick drums, ride cymbal, and synth drones knit the piano's contemplative musings into a window-box scene, peering through glassy panes streaked with raindrops. Take refuge here as long as you need.

Original music from Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Like the chime of Dickensian church bells, or the twinkling of a star high in the heavens, piercing the night sky, this Sleep Song opens with a sonic beacon. Synth pads sparkle and ignite, like dancing satellites, passing comets, and every point of light across the darkest night. The steady, shiny pulses radiate effervescently, lifting hearts, and calming neural networks, with the assurance that we will always find our way.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

For this week's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera experiments with generative synthesis, a concept in which digital sounds influence each other with very little human interaction. Chords swell and fall as they ride the wave of preceding notes, creating a surreal and dreamy Viva Magenta swirl of calming tones, like the marbling, iridescent trails of oil in rain puddles, with cymbal, kick drum, and piano laid out to complement this improvisational unfolding.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

When you’re too sleepy to turn the record over on the turntable, new melodies start to emerge from beyond the crackle of the vinyl. As the record spins slowly, it opens a doorway to a soft and nostalgic standup piano. Falling farther into the piano’s chords, we’re led to a cascading sheet of tones, fields of evening cricket call, a calming open drone … all in turn giving rise to muted mellow notes like a lullaby out of time.

Original music from composers Ryan Holladay and Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Composer Eduardo Rivera tells us that he recorded this week's Sleep Song by time-stretching a ten-minute piano piece, leaving behind an overlay, like vellum gently settled over sepia-toned photos, or forgotten images on film reels suddenly brought to life again by projector light. The sound of the piano pedal, the sounds of the hammers hitting the strings, notes, air, everything is pulled out of time. Bells. cello, and chamber strings complement, creating a sense of hopeful remembering our sweetest memories can yield.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Warm, inviting tones, and the call of a piano's voice, announce it's time for tranquility and rejuvenation. Guided by light synth breezes and Una Corda, the sound of single string piano drenches the scene in a sea of cascading petals. The sound bath then dissolves into extended drones, collecting the day's fragments into unity, reverberating chords gathering our attention into a single soft focus.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

In today's Sleep Song, composer Eduardo Rivera follows the path of least intrusion, creating a synth sanctuary for weary bodies and minds. The Yamaha DX7 (an instrument made famous in the ’80s by the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Level 42, Supertramp) takes center stage with its distinct tone, created by its unique frequency modulation synthesis. Attune your ear to the higher melodies, and you may notice a more glassy sound this kind of coalescence creates. Or … just float on the rolling current of tranquil vibes.

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

This week's Sleep Song finds composer Eduardo Rivera going back to basics with his beloved old acoustic guitar. Says Eduardo, "I bought this guitar in 2009 for $200. I never meant to keep it for as long as I have. By all means, it's lived longer than it really should have. It's been on tour with me all over the U.S., all over Europe, I ran over part of it with a van accidentally, it's been stolen and later recovered at a pawn shop." In keeping with the theme of his well-worn guitar, this Sleep Song has a lo-fi quality, a transparency that says: everything is okay just as it is, our stories can come with us, the rough-and-tumble times as well as the triumphs, all blending together into a sweet, sweet song. As our composer says: "Sometimes it's nice to hear the imperfections. There's something comforting about it. Like hearing a story from a grandparent and appreciating their time-worn wisdom."

Original music from composer Eduardo Rivera.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

In a long hallway, curious echoing sounds leak through the walls; a piano's chords ground our footfall, assuring us we are not alone. Rainforest and jungle sounds manipulated into white noise pads call out from the periphery, until gentle cello takes us by the hand, leading us through the wilds beyond our seeing. Woodwinds and skipping synth say, "nothing is quite what it seems." We are in worlds within worlds, layer upon layer peeking through. A wash of reverb and keyboard melt the walls, the noise outside quickly hushed. A cradling bed of synth shines through, resetting the landscape, revealing the possibilities of this other world.

Original music from composer Ryan Holladay.

Meditative Story combines extraordinary human stories with meditation prompts embedded into the storylines — all surrounded by breathtaking music. Think of it as an alternative way into a mindfulness practice, through vivid stories and cinematic music and production values. Find Meditative Story wherever you listen to podcasts.