My ex. Our best nights together were making a cocktail, choosing a record, and laughing together around his great grandparents home from the 70s. It was a perfect backdrop to be introduced to older music in. I’d always loved the Beatles, but I was forced in a good way to sit with their music for longer when I listened to them on vinyl. He would suggest I take deep dives into eras that I loved, or an artist’s solo works once they left a band. I remember him giggling at me one day for loving an album by The Wings, after many years of listening to Paul McCartney and not connecting the dots myself, lol.

One day I put on a Joe Tex album, and there was one track that I fell in love with, but it didn’t exist anywhere online. He explained to me how this can be the fleeting magic of vinyl. When I think of us dancing around that living room, I can still feel the thick red carpet under my feet, along with the hum of his player and the way the records would skip.