a reminder that the internet can be awesome, and that there are nice people in the world

**kaini** · May 2, 2010

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I received an email from a woman named Laura, who had recently moved to a new city for a new job.

She was overwhelmed with anxiety and asked me to write her a song to help her calm down.

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August 11th

Hello Ze,

Im a fan of Songs You Already Know. If you make another, could you please make a song for "Song for when you're overwhelmed"? A nice sweet calmdown song. An audio-hug. A song that huddles around you and whispers "shhhhhhh, calm the fuck down. s'okay".

Thanks for considering, Mister Frank.

xoxox

Laura

I asked her to send me an email describing what it felt like when she was overwhelmed.

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August 12th

it feels like days dont start. and days dont end. there is no sense of time.

it feels like bring dropped into a dark void. completely dark. and all the darkness has weight, a thickness. not liquid. not a solid. something else. and youre trapped. and the longer you are there you know the black is just growing and growing and growing. and theres nothing you can do. the hole would just be bigger to dig out of with every passing hour. but you cant even do that.

watching a pane of glass sllllooowwwwlllllyyyyyyyy have a crack weasel through it. but you dont know when it will lose its stability.

I asked her to tell me what kinds of thoughts went through her mind when she was anxious.

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August 12th

Why bother, nothing will ever be completed.

I dont want to get out of bed.

What would happen if I just didnt show up today?

Why isnt anyone stepping in, they all know I can't do all of this.

Stop. Please stop.

I want to punch all of you in the neck. Only the dumpster understands.

Don't.

Does anyone understand that I am a human being, and I require things like sleep. Food. Social interaction. solitude.

Can I have a hug?

I wrote a sketch of a chorus and quietly asked some people in my audience to record themselves singing along while wearing headphones. Here is the sketch I sent them:

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chillout3-1

I received about thirty recordings. Here are some examples of what people sent to me:

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chilloutrory

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chillout3-wpc-1

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chillout3-backingtrack-nic

But this was my favorite:

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chill-1

I mixed the tracks together (w/o any pitch correction) to create the chorus. Here is a sample of just the female voices mixed together:

http://soundcloud.com/zefrank/chillout3-just-ladies