April is national Stress Awareness Month 2023.

Here at Macclesfield Nub News, we will be producing a few local articles related to the cause.

And today, we share a little music playlist of Macclesfield musicians, for when things get a bit overwhelming.

Lose yourself in these relaxing, mysterious and local pieces of music.

PS: You can click the play button on the sections to listen to a 30 second preview of the track, or find the full playlist HERE.

Nag Champa - Racing Glaciers

Literally named after a calming Indian fragrance, this track wouldn't go amiss in a yoga class.

Feel like you are floating on this brief, interlude from this acclaimed-Macclesfield rock band's debut album.

Complete with wispy male vocals and underwater-like distortion, lose yourself in the world of this short instrumental song streamed 82,721 times on Spotify.

Honeydew - Mr. Scruff

If the shortest song on this list has warmed you up before, how about the longest one?

But don't fret, take time out of your day and seven minutes will breeze by with this soulful, trip-hop lite track by Macclesfield's Mr. Scruff and collaborator Feebi.

The track boasts a very 90s sound, and was one of the last new entries to chart in the decade, hitting the UK number 93 spot in November 1999, and was the first of five chart hits for the Macclesfield DJ.

It boasts over 2.2 million streams on Spotify.

New Order - Avalanche

Despite the societal commentary on the cover art, this track is one of many instrumental tracks by Joy Division and New Order, but it is perhaps their most optimistic.

It feels like a main character has just made a great decision in a movie. With angelic, victorious sounding backing vocals being the only human voice.

While it does sound very late 1980s early 1990s in the production, don't let that put you off.

And while the title alludes to a natural disaster, why not apply that to your situation? It is something that will cause disruption, but it will all be over soon.

The eleventh track on their 1993 album Republic, was recorded when the band had two Macclesfield musicians in the band being Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert (today it is three).

Sea of Ice (Acoustic) - Megan Dixon Hood

When you are stressed, it can be important to take you away from the stressful environment for a period of time.

Some are physically able to, but if your current situation means you have to remain in the room that is causing you these feelings, music can help transport you to another world.

The whole of Megan Dixon Hood's discography takes you to a lush fantasy land, where there is a feeling of unexplored terrain yet a calming feeling of the natural world.

This track by the Bollington musician is pretty interchangeable with any of her non-remix tracks, for the effect you want it to achieve.

However, we chose this one as we think it segues nicely in-between the tracks around it in our Macclesfield Nub News stress-relieving playlist.

Ben Gorb - Reflections

A closing track on this Macclesfield musicians debut album makes an equally fitting closing track on the playlist.

Those who like late 60s early 70s singer-songwriter types will like this track.

Another instrumental piece, Mr Gorb's guitar playing is angelic, and total ear candy, with shades of Nick Drake or Tim Buckley.

While still at a similar breezy tempo to the previous tracks, some of the faster finger picking will help re-energise you and bring you back to whatever you are doing (hopefully feeling less stressed) as this playlist comes to an end.

And that is it for our list. Do you have any tracks by Macclesfield music artists that you'd like to suggest?

Listen to the playlist in full below:

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