Photo by Ayla Safran ’18
BY ELEANOR HARRIS '20
Spring break may be over, but we’re doing everything we can to preserve this relaxed, caught-up-on-our-sleep feeling for the rest of the semester. Whether your week off included road tripping, reenacting Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” or just taking a very long nap every
day, you can keep the good vibes going with the perfect set of songs. We caught up with Annabelle Plowden ’20, A who DJs “Sonic Truth” every Sunday night from 8-9pm on WMHC, to get the inside scoop on her radio show — and her complete spring playlist.
Q: What’s your favorite song right now?
A: “Renee” by SALES.
Q: How do you make your playlists for the show?
A: It’s a mix of what I’m listening to at the moment. Sometimes I’ll do a theme — for tomorrow, I’m doing all saxophone solos in the songs. And record labels send us CDs of artists that they want to make more popular and we’re required to play some on the air.
Q: Guilty pleasure song?
A: “Walking on a Dream” by Empire of the Sun.
Q: Describe your musical evolution.
A: In middle school I was really fake-alternative, and I was obsessed with Florence and the Machine to the point where my middle school superlative was “What if Annabelle didn’t like Florence and the Machine?” Freshman year of high school, I discovered Sonic Youth, which is my favorite band. Sophomore year of high school all I listened to was riot grrrl music ... and then I went into low-key indie. That’s where I’ve been at for the last two years.
Q: Worst Concert?
A: DIIV. They sucked.
Q: Favorite Girl Band?
A: Sleater-Kinney.
Q: How do you make your playlists for the show?
A: It’s a mix of what I’m listening to at the moment. Sometimes I’ll do a theme — for to-
morrow, I’m doing all saxophone solos in the A songs. And record labels send us CDs of artists that they want to make more popular and we’re required to play some on the air.
Q: Favorite boy band?
A: Jonas Brothers!
Q: What’s the worst thing you’ve done on air?
A: When I was taking my on-air exam I went to plug in my laptop so I could play my sample playlist and no sound came out. One rule of radio is you can’t have dead air, so the girl whose show I was [messing] up had to say random stuff for one minute. It was horrible.
Q: What's your musical deal breaker?
A: That’s a good question. That says a lot about a person! For me, musical theater. If someone’s like, “My favorite album is the Hamilton soundtrack,” I’d turn around. I can’t do it.
Q: Favorite Concert?
A: Noah and the Whale. I got a set list from them, and it was my birthday.
Q: First concert?
A: Grouplove. I saw Taylor Swift in seventh grade but that does not count. (It was amazing. It was the Speak Now tour.)