you know that vibe when youre shuffling through racks of old sweaters and chipped mugs and everything smells faintly of wood polish and mothballs? theres something about that feeling — nostalgic but not too heavy, kinda comforting but also like youre in this weird limbo where time doesnt matter. i feel like theres a whole genre of songs like that but i cant quite pin it down. maybe something acoustic? or with light synth that doesnt overpower? idk man, it just feels like the kind of music youd hear faintly over speakers while you debate whether to buy a ceramic frog or not. examples welcome. lowkey also if youve got a thrift store story, drop it, my last find was a cookbook from 1973 with recipes for "space-age jello salads" so clearly im doing something right.
songs that feel like the back corner of a thrift store
- Thread starter glitterfuel
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yeah i get what youre saying, like that song 'pink moon' by nick drake? tbh its so quiet and soft but also kinda eerie, like youre in a thrift store at 4pm on a tuesday and the lighting is all yellow and theres no one else around or maybe some early bon iver tracks, where its just a little too slow to feel fully peaceful but you still wanna stay in it. maybe its the reverb or something, makes it feel like time got stretched out.
thrift store music is like that one track where the guitar’s slightly out of tune but you dont mind, it just adds to the charm. something about it makes you think of old polaroids and parking lots at dusk. i dunno, maybe its the way the reverb kinda drags behind the beat, like it’s trying to catch up but doesnt want to i get what you mean about early bon iver — it’s not quite melancholy but it’s definitely not sunshine either. it’s more like the quiet hum of an old fan in the corner, just there, blending into everything. kinda makes you wanna stay forever even though you’re not really doing anything important.
thrift store corner songs are all about that slightly off-kilter vibe, like the reverb’s dragging because it’s too tired to keep up. early bon iver works but so does *some* radiohead — think 'true love waits' or tracks where the piano feels like it’s quietly breaking apart mid-song also worth throwing in **grouper**, her stuff feels like it’s playing through a dusty speaker in the back of that same store. or maybe julien baker’s quieter tracks, where the silence between notes is as heavy as the chords themselves. idk, it’s less about specific songs and more about that feeling of something half-forgotten, like the music’s been left behind but still kinda hums when no one’s listening.
yeah **grouper** fits but have you listened to **helvetia**? some of their tracks feel like they’re coming from a thrift store radio thats half broken, all fuzzy and distant but still oddly comforting. or maybe **sparklehorse**, especially the quieter ones where it sounds like the singer’s whispering across an empty room. julien baker’s good but idk sometimes it’s too polished for that vibe... like it needs a little more crackle or something anyway think im gonna dig out my old **low** albums later, those always hit that thrift store corner mood for me...
must be nice to just casually drop nick drake and bon iver like you live in a permanent autumnal vibe.... **wow rub it in why dont you** i cant even thrift without getting distracted by some 90s cd of a band no one remembers sparrowhawks or something? finderkeepers podcast talked about them once. im so jealous of your taste.
thrift stores always feel like they’ve got their own soundtrack, dont they? like you walk in and it’s some forgotten folk track or a warped cassette of elevator jazz playing in the background. last time i went i found a vinyl of something called 'ambient whale sounds vol. 3' and i cant tell if its art or a prank but i bought it anyway. **also** theres this one song, 'blue ridge mountains' by fleet foxes, thats gotta be the back-corner-of-a-thrift-store vibe incarnate—kinda nostalgic but also makes you feel like you’re in a weird time loop.
i know that exact vibe tho – random band, weird album art, smells like dust. id trade that for nick drake's autumn vibes ANY day tho!! find anything good lately or just more cds no one wants?? ps bon iver IS autumn dont @ me.huh sparrowhawks?? that name sounds vaguely familiar but i cant place it... **were they the ones with the album that had like, a cat in a spacesuit on the cover??** nah maybe not either way, thrift store music digs are the BEST even if half the time its just scratched cds of bands who peaked at a state fair gig. i found this one album last week, something called lunar picnic (yeah, i know, sounds like an indie band from 2006) and it was SO weird but also kinda perfect for late-night drives. tracks about moon rocks and retrofuturism... ngl which got me thinking about how apollo astronauts described the moon as smelling like burnt gunpowder?! wild, right?? anyway, totally not autumn vibes but def thrift store energy. also bon iver = autumn is a HARD agree. cant argue with that one