Journey Music for Psychedelic Healing Playlists: Hammock — Nevertheless (2025)

In psychedelic healing work, music is a co-facilitator. The right sound can soften defenses, open emotional gates, or guide the psyche through states that words can’t reach. Music offers structure and sensory orientation, shaping how safety and surrender unfold. Mapping an album through frameworks like the Copenhagen Music Program (CMP) and Grof’s Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs) helps facilitators and listeners understand where each piece might fit, turning an ambient record into a living map for transformation.

This series explores albums that function as companions for inner work—soundtracks that hold, mirror, and move with the listener through altered states. This is my only perspective, so preview the music before the flight.

Check out the album here: https://hammock.bandcamp.com/album/nevertheless

Hammock is a Nashville-based duo composed of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, known for crafting emotionally expansive instrumental music at the intersection of ambient, post-rock, drone, and shoegaze. Across more than two decades of releases, they have developed a sound that feels both cinematic and intimate, built from slow-moving guitar swells, layered drones, and a careful sense of momentum. Their music often unfolds patiently, allowing themes to emerge through dynamics rather than overt melody, which gives it a strong narrative quality without relying on vocals or obvious hooks.

Hammock’s music rarely sits still. It breathes, swells, and recedes, carrying the listener through motion rather than suspending them in a single texture. Their album Nevertheless is where guitars open and close like lungs, drones stretch time, and piano and strings surface gently, then slip away. There is often a quiet rhythmic sway that invites the body to soften or rock, holding melancholy and uplift side by side. The album moves with clarity and restraint, feeling more distilled than many of their earlier releases, each track placed carefully so the arc unfolds without excess.

Listening Impressions and Journey Qualities

Hammock’s music works across volume levels in a rare way. At low volume, it can sit in the background with real presence, suitable for bodywork, quiet reflection, or meditation. Turned up, it becomes visceral. The swells of guitar and layered tones can be felt physically, especially in the chest, resonating with a breath that expands and releases. I’d love to see them perform in person at full volume, as it must be very powerful live music.

Many tracks on Nevertheless have a rocking or cradling quality, which makes the band’s name feel especially apt. The music often expands outward and then gently folds back in, creating a sense of safety and containment. This can evoke childlike or regressive states in a supportive way, where the nervous system feels held rather than pushed.

Hammock could also serve as a bridge for listeners less familiar with ambient music. The guitar-forward sound provides a familiar anchor for people whose musical comfort zone leans toward rock, folk, or country. Grounding piano appears on several tracks, with the instrument's tactile sounds often audible. These details add warmth and humanity, reinforcing the sense that this is music made by people in a room, not textures assembled in software.

Why Nevertheless Works for Psychedelic Journeys

Nevertheless moves the way some psychedelic journeys do, in gentle waves rather than sharp turns. Sorrow, awe, tenderness, and quiet uplift appear side by side, with transitions that feel gradual and humane. The dynamics are present without being insistent, allowing emotion to surface at its own pace. Many tracks feel as if they could help support embodied awareness and nervous system regulation. Letting go into Hammock’s music can be a pleasurable experience.

The blend of guitar, drone, piano, and strings is emotionally articulate without being directive. The music invites feeling without telling the listener what to feel, which is especially valuable in facilitated work. Nevertheless can hold grief and grace at the same time, making space for loss, longing, and renewal without tipping into sentimentality or overwhelm.

In practice, Hammock’s music fits naturally across multiple phases of a journey. I most often reach for these tracks after the peak, when intensity begins to soften, and emotion opens into reflection or awe. Still, the album is cohesive enough to function as a continuous arc, whether heard in full or woven selectively into a longer playlist. It feels less like background music and more like a steady presence, quietly holding the space as the experience unfolds.

Playlist Placement and Track Reflections

Below are my reflections on how each piece from Nevertheless aligns with the Copenhagen Music Program (CMP) and Grof’s Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPM) frameworks. The CMP follows an Ascent → Peak → Descent → Landing flow, mirroring the natural rhythm of a psychedelic experience. BPM is a map for emotional and physiological states, from the safety and openness of BPM I through the challenges and breakthroughs of BPM II–III, to the grounded renewal of BPM IV.

[see previous article on CMP and BPMs]

“Requiem for Johan” (Track 1)
Ascent – Opening | BPM I (Oceanic Bliss)
A reverent and ceremonial opener. The slow build and resonant low end create a grounded entry point that feels womb-like and safe. Works well for preparation or early onset, signaling that the journey is being held.

“In Distance Pavilion” (Track 2)
Ascent – Opening → Activation | BPM I → II (Oceanic Unity)
Gentle layers with a subtle rhythmic sway. There is a slight stirring beneath the surface that supports the transition from settling into movement, without rushing the process.

“You Get So Far Away” (Track 3)
Ascent – Activation | BPM II (No Exit)
Melancholic guitar phrases over drifting drones evoke longing and distance. Useful for emotional emergence as the journey begins to open outward.

“Breath Inside Your Breath” (Track 4)
Descent – Integration | BPM IV (Rebirth and Resolution)
A slow, sad piano piece with gentle string swells. Heart-forward and tender. This feels especially well-suited to the come-down or late integration phase, when emotions are softening and settling.

“Through Nameless Air” (Track 5)
Peak – Expansion | BPM II → III (Cosmic Engulfment)
Spacious and open, with shimmering textures that invite awe. Works well when the experience is deepening and perceptual openness is increasing.

“Without Which Nothing” (Track 6)
Peak – Holding / Restorative | BPM III → IV (Release)
Built around looping, breathing motifs that rock gently back and forth. Feels cradling and safe, almost nap-like. Excellent for moments of rest, surrender, or simple embodied presence within the peak.

“Traces Disappear” (Track 7)
Peak – Engagement | BPM III (Death-Rebirth Struggle/Propulsion)
A slightly faster tempo, with simple rhythm guitar, introduces forward momentum. Trance-inducing and subtly propulsive, inviting small movements or physical engagement during peak intensity.

“Like a Sadness We Get Used To” (Track 8)
Post-Peak – Reflection | BPM IV (Release/Emergence)
Backwards guitar swells and a faint country-ambient twang give this track a bittersweet, nostalgic tone. Well-suited for post-peak reflection, when unresolved feelings surface gently.

“Nevertheless” (Track 9)
Descent – Integration | BPM IV (Release/Emergence)
The emotional centerpiece of the album. Uplifting and melodic, with a more pronounced, jangly guitar presence. Ideal for the transition from intensity toward grounding and renewed possibility.

“Watching You Collapse” (Track 10)
Ascent – Opening | BPM I (Oceanic Bliss)
Soft, slow, and gentle. Despite its placement late in the album, this track works beautifully early in the journey, building trust and a gradual entry before deeper currents arrive.

“All Flesh Is Grass” (Track 11)
Return – Integration / Landing | BPM IV (Emergence)
Expansive swells and a sense of closure. A natural album closer and an excellent final track for a playlist, completing the arc with spacious acceptance.

Closing Take

Nevertheless is an album that understands how to stay with difficulty without pressing for resolution. It moves slowly, breath by breath, allowing grief, tenderness, and quiet beauty to coexist without needing to be explained or fixed. For journey work, that quality is rare and valuable. The music neither rushes the listener forward nor holds them in place. It accompanies, steady and attentive.

Whether selectively including tracks on a playlist or listened to as an album, Nevertheless offers a soundworld that feels human and holding. It supports moments of vulnerability without tipping into sentimentality, and it allows emotional material to soften and reorganize in its own time. In psychedelic settings, it functions less like a soundtrack and more like a compassionate presence in the room.