When you load up Spotify, a great big chunk of the time you can’t think what to play, right? You default back to your old favourites, those albums and songs you played on repeat when you first discovered you could make them yours.
This isn’t about guilty pleasures; it’s about those songs you’ll still be listening to when you’re old and in your rocking chair. So, enter Teenage Kicks – a playlist series that sees bands running through the music they listened to in their formative years.
Next up, Lynn Gunn from PVRIS.
“Music was a pretty personal thing when I was a teen! I was weirdly secretive about sharing music, so I don’t have any fun friend stories around the songs.”
Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
I forget how I discovered Lykke Li but her first two albums were on repeat for me as a teen. I took pottery my last two years of high school and would always play this while I was sculpting.
The Weeknd – The Morning
The Weeknd is one of my favourite artists of all time… I’ve been a fan since his early days, and he has been a big inspiration for me as an artist. ‘The Morning’ was the first song I’d heard of The Weeknd, and I was immediately obsessed. Been a huge fan since.
Vampire Weekend – Run
I’d blast this every day on the bus home from softball practice. This album and song especially was my springtime soundtrack my senior year. I remember it made me so excited to be in warm weather.
Daughter – Youth
A boy I had a crush on in high school made me a mix CD my senior year of high school. This song was on it; it was the first time I’d ever heard Daughter or music like them. Since then it’s been a big influence on some of PVRIS’s music/guitar tones.
Moving Mountains – Full Circle
This whole album was one of my favourites as a teen, but this song in particular really spoke to me. I remember discovering Moving Mountains the spring of my junior year of high school; I have a really vivid memory of playing this album in my room at night with the windows open… with this playing, it was magic!
Florence + The Machine – Rabbit Heart
One of my classmates gave me a book of burned CDs in class one day. One of the albums was ‘Lungs’. When I got home, I remember playing each of the CDs while I was doing my homework, when I played ‘Lungs’ I had to stop everything I was doing and just be immersed. I’d never heard anything like it, ‘Rabbit Heart’ was one of my favourites.
Emery – Studying Politics
I was SO excited to buy this song on iTunes when I found it. I was obsessed with pre-game playlists when I played ice hockey as a teen, this was on heavy rotation. It always got me so pumped; it was so catchy.
Alexisonfire – This Could Be Anywhere In The World
I remember seeing the video for this on Fuse or MYV on a Friday afternoon before a high school football game. I remember downloading it and playing it in my headphones whenever I could while I was at the game, that’s how excited I was about the song, haha.
Taken from the September issue of Upset. PVRIS’ album ‘Use Me’ is out 28th August.
