Lazy River: 25 Songs That Mellow The Summer's End

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Tap into the peaceful mindset from days on the water. / NPR

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My favorite days of summer are the ones when I'm floating.

During the warm months, my friends and I make a habit of driving to our favorite Northern California swimming holes with sandwiches, a portable speaker and a cooler. We swim and lounge on inflatable floaties (I have ones in the shape of a donut and a glittery llama), soak up the sun on the rocks, drink pink, bubbly beverages and repeat until sundown.

But my favorite spot, the Yuba River, spent most of August under a blanket of smoke from the ongoing California wildfires. Many parts of the Russian River are dried out and shallow because of our state's historic drought. And with the recent hurricane in the Southeast and the catastrophic flooding in New York, it's hard not to feel totally helpless about climate change.

So when I can't swim, I try my best to embody lazy river floating as a state of mind. This roséwave playlist can help us all tap into that peaceful mindset from days on the water.

Think of Lazy River as your meditation break — something light and effervescent, with a few surprise notes of complexity. Let the mellow, fuzzed-out electronics of Connan Mockasin's "It's Just Wind" wash over you. Fixate on the strange beauty of Mndsgn's "3Hands / Divine Hand I," like you might with tadpoles swimming around your toes dipped in water. The electro-pop synths of Chicano Batman's "Pastel Sunrise" will hit your face like a warm sunbeam, prompting you to pause and take a breath of gratitude for the moment. International house tracks "I Go" by Peggy Gou (Berlin via South Korea) and Moscow's Kedr Livanskiy's "Sky Kisses" add a burst of uptempo energy, like an energizing breeze.

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