In every season of life we have songs we come back to over and over. Songs that keep some fire going deep down for one reason or another. A lyric, a melody, a groove, a voice, or just a feeling or memory tied to the song. Like the way the smell of hot dogs on the grill transport me to summer, or the smell of old mothballs remind me of playing in my grandparents RV parked in the back lot, or the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies takes me somewhere I don’t quite remember, but it takes me. Songs are tied to memory, feelings, and sensations in the same way. They allow us to travel in time.

When I started writing songs for Chaos & Commotion, I was in a moment of life where I was processing a lot of old baggage from childhood and trying to find the words for it all. I guess I’m still in that place. The title track of the album specifically walks through my childhood home and explores the landscape and characters within it, as well as the feeling of freedom and lack of structure I had growing up. Which at the time, felt like the coolest thing ever. Many of the songs in this album are also me trying to make sense of the world feeling like it’s on fire. Has the human race always felt like the world was on fire and doomed for implosion throughout history? Or is this moment specifically pretty fucked? Aside from contemplations around childhood, the album explores toxic masculinity, the arbitrariness of the lines and biases we draw, finding inspiration and momentum in the mundane, and the realities of blue-collar life in rural New England.

Bringing it back to this idea that music can transport us to different moments in life, often the songwriter is doing their own version of time travel as they dive into some past lived experience and start the archaeological dig on the details. A lot of my writing comes from a place of this sensory memory. This playlist could probably map out good chunks of my life. Many of these have come to me in the last year or two and I will continue to carry them with me to revisit this moment of great creative expansion I’m currently in. Many of these songs are not even necessarily my favorite songs from these artists to date, but they are just what I needed to hear in that moment and serve as little bookmarks for the different chapters in life. Here is what, where, or when these songs transport me to. — Randy Miles

“Chaos & Commotion” – Randy Miles

My childhood home in Woodbury, Connecticut. It describes the space and characters in the home I grew up in.

“Little Peace” – Lou Hazel

This song moves me deeply and reminds me a lot of the rural New England I grew up in. In general, Lou has this ability to portray rural American life in a way I didn’t know I was searching for. Riot of the Red was a go-to album for me while looking for inspiration for the album.

“Angeles” – Elliott Smith

I’m not sure how I came across the album Either/Or (maybe the library), but I have distinct memories of sitting at my mom’s chunky old ’90s computer that had a CD-ROM drive and shitty speakers while finding my love for lo-fi alt pop sadcore music at age 13. This was probably a gateway drug into my emo years.

“The Stable Song” – Gregory Alan Isakov

This song brings me back to my first year studying human ecology at the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Gregory was in constant rotation for me and I played this song often at college open mics. I really fell in love with modern folk music through his music and playing his songs helped me find my own voice as a solo performer.

“All My Days” – Alexi Murdoch

My friend, Mark Cranford, was the drummer for a hardcore band we played in back in the day called Trees to Towers. He handed me the album Time Without Consequence one day after a rehearsal and I’m not sure if I ever returned it, I was so in love with it. This song broke the trance and hyperfocus I had on the hardcore/screamo music scene at the time and brings me back to my early 20s.

“Is This Love” – Bob Marley & The Wailers

My beautiful wife Natalia and I’s wedding song. This song transports me to our wedding reception party where I think we both probably drank too much tequila and then headed out on a three-month honeymoon cross-country road trip the next morning.

“La trama y el desenlace” – Jorge Drexler

Jorge Drexler is a poet above all. He was a doctor in Uruguay for some years and then decided to move to Spain and pursue his music full time. I was introduced to his music when I first met my wife, living with her and our best friend from Bolivia, Klever, in a house on Mount Desert Island, Maine. That is the year I learned Spanish, and fell in love with Latin music.

“Sailor” – Randy Miles

This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album in 2024 and it was a real catalyst for me in my writing. It was also the first song we recorded when we got in the studio and I think it really set the tone and creative momentum for the rest of our time in the studio.

“Act Appalled” – Circa Survive

The peak of autumn in New England. Driving through Litchfield, Connecticut, area smoking Camels (gross) with the windows down and the chilly autumn air in my face. For some reason, Circa Survive generally brings me back to Autumn, my favorite season.

“Old Pine (Every Kingdom)” – Ben Howard

Summer love on an island in Maine. I learned to play this song to impress a girl. Then, Ben Howard ended up impressing me, and he is now one of my favorite artists to this day.

“Feeling” – Billie Marten

This song is beautiful and has been on repeat for me over the last year. I think often when I’m really hooked on a song, it’s usually because there’s some essence there that I wish I could capture in my own songs. It’s also right on theme here. She speaks about old memories tied to specific sensory experiences.

“Brokedown Palace” – Grateful Dead

My childhood best friend’s funeral at 26 years old. Mikey was my ride or die. He left us too soon, but that’s how it goes for special souls.

“The Wolves” – Watchouse

Watchouse was a gateway drug for me from folk into more traditional folk and bluegrass music. If you’ve never watched them live, you need to. It is a transcendent experience. Watchouse got me through a lot of my college years and inspired me to pick up a mandolin and start my first folk/trad band.

“Deep in Love” – Bonny Light Horseman

This song brings me back to right before the pandemic traveling to Northfield, Minnesota, to work on a friend’s album. JT Bates happened to be drumming on the album and I was pretty stoked at the synchronicity there. Fast forward 5 years and JT ended up playing drums on half of Chaos & Commotion.

Photo Credit: @jonieonfilm