Alvin M. Keeling 
Lent is the most agonizing season of the liturgical calendar: Jesus in the desert with the devil; we sit with our sin and our mortality. Below are six songs to accompany you through this brooding and contemplative season. Soon, Easter will unfold and bring with it some upbeat resurrection bops, but for now, the tunes are suitably emo — at least lyrically. Some of you will be disappointed by the glaring lack of Dashboard Confessional and Paramore songs on this self-proclaimed emo playlist – but Lenten emo is more existential than romantic. I hope you will still listen.
“River” by Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges is a soulful artist in his thirties with a voice that sounds like the 1950s. His 2015 song “River” takes us to the Jordan River as he sings of sin and cleansing, perfect for the season of Lent that invites us to reflect and renew our baptism.
Oh, I want to come closer and give you
Every part of me
But there’s blood on my hands
And my lips are impure
In my darkness I remember
Mom’s words come back to me
“Abandon yourself to the good Lord
And he’ll wipe your slate clean”
take me to your river
I want to go
“Hold You Dear” by The Secret Sisters
The Secret Sisters are a folk duo known for their always immaculate, sometimes bewitching harmonies. In this piano ballad, the steady harmonies of the chorus underscore the sentiment of the lyrics: Someday we’ll be dust, but for now we’re those beautiful fleshy things that can and must hold each other.
Oh, blessed mother and father whom I adore
There’s time on your faces
I will cherish you until you leave me for your eternal holy places
And I will cherish you
While my shadow is long and my eyes are clear
I know these days will pass
So I will cherish you
“Dusty Paths” by Lucius
I didn’t just choose this song for the “dust” pun. In “Lent is Sinister You Didn’t Know You Needed”, The residents Editor-in-chief Julie Polter writes, “There are hints of the resurrection in the lectionary readings, but the pain and destruction of dreams and life that precedes it is fully due. I hear echoes of this wisdom in these words of Lucius: “Dusty paths may lead you to a golden road.” But you can’t walk on gold until you’ve walked on dust; you can’t have the joy of Easter until you sit with the pain rooted in Lent.
It’s a whole manual that we wrote
A future teaching guide
If we move on to our pre-fulfilled dreams
We’d be lost without our own guidance
“Life on Earth” by Hurray for the Riff Raff
Lent also brings sin to the forefront, both with the temptation of Jesus and our own susceptibility to sin: against God, those we love, those we dislike and, on a global scale, creation. . So I had to put a “nature punk” song on this playlist. In “Life on Earth,” Hurray’s title track for Riff Raff’s latest album, Alynda Segarra juxtaposes the beauty of nature with the sins of humanity. It’s shocking and resonant:
The sky and the trees
And the birds and the bees
Life on earth is long
rivers and lakes
And floods and earthquakes
Life on earth is long
…
The man in the mask in the office with a flask
Sing “Life on earth is long”
And the girl in a cage with the moon in her eyes
Sing “Life on earth is long”
“Without Grudge” by the Avett Brothers
This piece is the most prescient of Ash Wednesday, but it will sing well on any day of Lent. “No Hard Feelings” is the most beautiful song about death I know, and probably the most explicitly spiritual track on this list.
When the sun is low in the west
And the light in my chest will no longer be kept at bay
When jealousy fades
And it’s ashes and dust for money and lust
And that’s just hallelujah
And love in thought, love in words
Love in the songs they sing in church
And no grudge
“This Time Tomorrow” by Brandi Carlile
Although Carlile called “This Time Tomorrow” a “beautiful little life-affirming lullaby”, I think it’s the perfect song for Maundy Thursday. It is easy to imagine a mother singing these words to a child before going to bed; it’s also easy to imagine the words coming out of Jesus’ mouth at the last supper as he comforted his 12 friends about the dreadful Friday looming on the horizon.
[O]Your sacred dreams of yesterday are not gone
They still haunt us like the ghosts of Babylon
And the sunrise might bring you sorrow
You know I might not be here by this time tomorrow
But I will always be with you
