About

In March, host Erica Heilman asked listeners to submit recordings of their lives in quarantine, and by April 16, she had produced seven episodes of Our Show. People participated from around the world—Tasmania, Spain, Singapore—and from across the U.S., resulting in stunning variety. A child leads a meditation about the beach. A couple choose their walking route by flipping a coin. A man impersonates Elvis singing “Are You Lonesome Tonight.” Heilman creates a collage with them, stitching the various moods and voices together into a sonic quilt that relies on her artistic sensibilities more than theme or topic. “I made a chicken pot pie, and then I ordered a mini trampoline,” someone says. An elderly man decides not to take the bus. Others just say hello. Somehow, Heilman seems to have picked the snippets that will endure. (She’s good at this—just listen to the rest of her catalog,) The result is a poignant soundtrack of 2020, built from one of the hardest months in world history. It came out at just the right moment and remains as heartrending and comforting now as it was then.

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