Music Mood Board: Songs That Beautifully Explore Genuine Human Connection

This track from Australian electronic band Tora underlines the deterioration of humanity by way of technology. Lead singer Jo Loewenthal encourages us to realign with the ethos of humankind to keep from straying away from what really matters. "Searching for connection / We forget to live in the now," he says. "And hide behind the smokescreen / That we've created, it's deviating."

Yes, Post Animal is making another appearance in the Music Mood Board column. I've been really into their latest album Forward Motion Godyssey, OK? According to the band, this song is about "the confusion and eventual acceptance of complicated emotions." For me, personally, this explanation has a duality. My shift in perspective when it comes to vulnerability and connecting with someone can pretty much be summed up as "the confusion and eventual acceptance of complicated emotions." So, bravo, Post Animal.

The song also feels like a story of someone striving to maintain their connection with a loved one, as if they're standing on opposite sides of a canyon. The "How do you feel?" that echoes in the chorus is like a bridge or an extended hand anxiously waiting to be accepted. That display of concern is a paradigm of what it means to deeply care about a person, even if you're not on the same page.

Mackampa lends his comforting vocals to this tune about enjoying someone's company and feeling like your true self around them. He emphasises the beauty of human convergence, crooning, "Covered in night / Our senses collided / So there's no need to hide / In this eventide."

Dodie's 2019 EP Human is perhaps one of the most succinctly and accurately titled collection of songs in my Spotify library. The British singer explores various aspects of what it means to be human, especially in relation to another person. The title track encompasses the yearning to learn about someone on a deep level and establish a special kind of trust. "Will you share your soul with me? / Unzip your skin and let me have a see," Dodie sings. "Paint me in trust / I'll be your best friend / Call me the one / This night just can't end."

With warm evocations, Orion Sun explicates the charm and luster of committing to someone and having that devotion reciprocated. "Water, my cup overflowing / Abundant, your love got me floating," Orion Sun intones. "Upstream, you and me onto bigger things / Planning the future with our eyes closed."

This might be my favourite song off of Vérité's 2019 album New Skin. It details the feeling of losing yourself in someone when you first start to connect with them. That's something I used to think was negative — and it certainly can be — but there's also a beneficial effect, depending on how and why you're letting a part of yourself go. In this particular song, losing yourself is the result of finding refuge in someone who takes you out of your anxieties.

In a Genius annotation, Yoke Lore revealed this pensive track is inspired by the end of a friendship. "This is not a song of anger," he wrote. "This is almost like what I want to say to the person now. 'This is done, we're done, but keep your chin up because even though our closeness is over, I still believe in you as a human who can bring good rich light into peoples lives.' I just can't be there for you anymore."

Even when you lose someone in a certain regard, you can still maintain some level of investment in that person and what you hope for them. And while things might not work out, the time you spent together is too precious to wish for anything but sanguineness. It's a notion that concedes how powerful and eternal interconnectivity truly is.