Responsibility-driven anxiety has been a pretty common theme for a good chunk of my life. It’s not that I crumble under pressure…quite the opposite actually. When the pressure’s on, I humbly flourish more often than not. But constantly designing my plan for tomorrow during every hour of today is a regrettable approach that I’ve followed for years. Trying to break away from this instinctive and systematic thinking is a challenge that few distractions (or passions) can conquer. I know friends, I’m an open book; you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to guess that I’m leading towards a musical moral. Some songs excite, some songs inspire, but my favorite songs of all are those that relax.

Not only does “Waiting All Night” capture the intrinsic need I have for a daily dose of soothing music, but it ironically counteracts that need with a source of my frequent angst: waiting. Those conflicting themes mold together into what sounds like a genuinely awesome elevator song, and I sense that that feeling is intentionally promoted by the thoughtful folks of Phish. The renowned neo-hippies of Vermont have always represented a lack of concern, as does the majority of Vermonters. I’m may not be earthy-crunchy enough to wear a dress, play a vacuum as if it were an instrument, or wear tie-dye on a daily basis as members of Phish have often been known to do, but their absence of stress is an MO that I love to rally around.