Songs for the Sevdah Issue (A Selection)

Curating Half Mystic Journal’s forthcoming Opus II, Issue II: Sevdah feels like wading into the depths of an endless well, drowning in distance & yet unquenched. New work graces these pages by Adam Falkner, Rita Mookerjee, Natalie Marino, Kathleen A. Wakefield, Angela Sucich, Jordan Silversmith, Jared Povanda, Natalye Childress, Sophie Crocker, Allison Cooke, Dontay M. Givens II, Nick Visconti, Amber Cecile Brodie, Amrita Nur, Gordan Struić, & Sjafril. The sevdah issue is a long exposure, a mythic yawn between absence & presence, wandering an empty airport terminal like centre stage. You can preorder her in paperback & PDF now.

Tenderness blossoms fragile & fragrant in this new issue, coiled around the thorn of desire. Sevdah unfolds into a liturgy beneath half lights, holy & heavy as the still before the train comes. It breathes at once as song & spell: a vow made in a past world, a memory yet to be lived, chords drinking down silence and lingering long after the ghosts have gone.

Opus II, Issue II is out on July 8th, 2025, & as we worship in the waiting, that old balm of music holds us always above the water. Half Mystic’s annual staff playlist is all yours today, a lush echo of the pulse of sage & velvet that defines this issue, with songs chosen by our editorial team in the process of curating & dreaming (plus the first glimpse of our featured art for this issue!). Stand very still & hold this moment open with us as you listen…

“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” by Jeff Buckley

It’s never over
My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It’s never over
All my riches for her smiles
When I've slept so soft against her

“Cain” by EXES

In the room that I met your mother
In the room we were almost lovers
I could feel, I could feel you there
I could feel, I could feel you

“Faith Healer” by Julien Baker

Faith healer, come put your hands on me
A snake oil dealer
I'll believe you if you make me feel something

“all my ghosts” by Lizzie McAlpine 

We made sangria and failed
I spilled mac and cheese on my pants
And thought about kissing you
Underneath kitchen lights

“Kitchen Light (Stripped)” by Xana

You’re blushing your cheeks and I'm falling for it
’Cause everything sweet comes with a warning

“First Class” by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

We were born splaying in the wreckage
Buried down on birds with stones
Bore my weight upon your shoulders
Water as warm as morning suns

“Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by Broken Social Scene

Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that
Now you’re all gone, got your makeup on and you’re not coming back
Can’t you come back?

“Big Ol’ Miyazaki Tears” by Haley Heynderickx

If you were clay then I am silt
I’m built on weak deposits as the ocean fills me
Push and pull the break of the dawn
If only I could hold it in a small clay pot

“All Mirrors” by Angel Olsen

I’ve been watchin’ all of my past repeatin’
There's no endin’, and when I stop pretendin’
See you standin’, a million moments landin’
On your smile, buried alive

“I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie

If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the “no”s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark

“中庭の少女たち” by SHISHAMO

大人になって　酸いも甘いも知った時
今日のお昼と同じように笑いあえるかな
大人になって　大事なものが見えた時
またこの中庭に集まって笑いあえるかな

“All Too Well” by Taylor Swift

‘Cause there we are again on that little town street
You almost ran the red ‘cause you were lookin’ over at me
Wind in my hair, I was there
I remember it all too well

“Pool” by Samia

And I know your middle name
But I might know you if I didn’t
In the moments when you’re kissing
Like a baby in the kitchen, how long?

“Immune” by Jensen McRae

What will we be to each other
If the world doesn't end?

“For Keeps” by Lucy Dacus

But I still miss you
When I’m with you
‘Cause I know we’re not
Playing for keeps

“Everything” by MUNA

‘Cause the world could be burning
And all I’d be thinking is
“How are you doing, baby?”

“Astral Projection” by Yumi Zouma  

Hold me in your arms, I know this wouldn't last
I know I shouldn’t feel safe, but I do

“Joga” by Björk 

You push me up to
This state of emergency
How beautiful to be