Picks of the week
Twenty Thousand Hertz
This long-running podcast celebrates the sounds we take for granted and recently it’s thrown up another of its standout episodes. Host Dallas Taylor has zoomed in on singing plants, Baby Shark and Siri in previous instalments and his love of everyday noises knows no bounds. Start with Virtual Choir, an intricate story of how Eric Whitacre brought a group of people from all over the world together on video for a moving performance. The results are beautiful and of course timely, with connections made in many different ways. Hannah Verdier
Phoebe Reads a Mystery
Quarantine book clubs are all the rage, but if picking up a book is too much effort then why not listen to an audiobook, or even a literary podcast. This kitsch and comforting show sees Phoebe Judge, of hit podcasts Criminal and This Is Love, dip into Agatha Christie’s first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. As well as introducing the world to one Hercule Poirot, this whodunit set out the writer’s stall, via poison, gold-digging and jealousy. Turn on, tune in and don’t drop out, lest you miss the clues.
Hannah J Davies
Producer pick: The Happiness Lab
Chosen by Jonathan Fisher
’Psychology and the Good Life’ was the most popular class in the 316-year history of Yale University. In 2018, 1,182 undergraduates piled into Woolsey Hall, the largest assembly space on the premises, to participate in what Dr Laurie Santos considered an opportunity to recalibrate the value systems which can grip modern society and campus life a little too tightly.
Santos brings the same energy into her podcast, The Happiness Lab, unpacking myths and truisms about happiness and exploring either how they work, or why they’re wrong.
The first season wrapped up in November, but in the last fortnight, Santos has delivered five new episodes, focusing specifically on themes particular to the global pandemic: how to beat self-isolation loneliness, how to emotionally process a crisis and how to maintain focus. Accessible and methodical, they’re an oasis of calm in a very loud period.
Talking points
Podcasting without your pals? Spotify-owned podcast tool Anchor is now letting up to five people record together online, so there’s never been a better time to start your own TV fan-cast/coronavirus news show/parenting podcast. And if you’re self-conscious, don’t be.
Why not try: Killing It | Somebody | Where Should We Begin?: Couples Under Lockdown
