The André 3000 Guide To Outrunning The Universe

And why I must be taken to the sea

I like to know what I’m listening to. I need it spelled out for me through melody, harmony, and lyrics. I like basic songwriting structure with a verse, a chorus, a verse, a chorus, a bridge, and a chorus. I like when songs are 3 minutes and 27 seconds long. I like variations of the same chord progressions slightly rearranged to incite the same release of pent-up serotonin I’ve waited to feel since I put my headphones on the charger an hour ago. And so, the loose amorphous sound of ambient music is equally frustrating as it is meditative.

Music that doesn’t reveal itself immediately requires extra effort. My ego demands that I figure it out. The airy swell of strings on Jónsi and Alex Somer’s Riceboy Sleeps is a code to be cracked. The directionless rhythm of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is a bridge troll with three riddles to cross.

I suppose I have approached most facets of my life this way, as a puzzle with a finite number of pieces that must fit together in one specific…