A Love Letter for the Record

A record player I've been relishing.

By Grace Smith

Published December 19, 2025

Welcome to Love Letters, a column about what I'm testing and appreciating. As a professional product reviewer, I have plenty of goodies cross my desk for evaluation—and here's what I'm currently loving.

I have started using affiliate links for a small kickback if you buy any of these through my link (thank you if you do), but all of these are independently loved and selected by moi with no partnerships or outside compensation.

This week, I've been mostly getting back into the rhythm of work after a chaotic November. Book revision, planning 2026, and nesting in my parents' house for the holidays (i.e. creating a workspace that won't be overrun by toddlers when I'm in the thick of my book deadline) have dominated my time and headspace.

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December will look a lot like Mountain Sounds, and I love being immersed in my own book. It just requires some prep work.

The element of my office I'm most excited about is a record player. I've never owned one before, and I could never justify it because I'd probably be moving via suitcase.

Getting to set this up, and to consider which albums mean the most to me (at least for this kind of slow burn experience), has been nice. Stilling, in a way.

Electrohome Montrose Record Player + McKinley Speakers

Like most people nowadays, I'm craving analog and slowness and some intentionality, so picking one up finally felt like the right call.

It will definitely help me romanticize the hours I spend holed up in a study (garage) that absolutely never gets enough light. I've been avoiding the thick of revision mostly for that reason—because I know what it does to me to spend so long alone and on screens. Nobody else can do the work for you! So how to alleviate that burden?

I have a candle warmer and some scents specific to the book. I have shelves and shelves of reference books. It'll all be alright.

Buy the Record Player

The Vinyl Records I Picked Out to Start

One aspect I do appreciate about going for a record player versus a piecemeal media app like Spotify is that it forces me to listen to an album in its entirety and to appreciate it as a whole entity, which I haven't done nearly enough. I've loved sorting through my library to examine what I actually love enough to listen to fully.

Some albums are slam-dunks for me. Others I love, but I don't care about the vinyl experience of it (so to speak.) There are certain songs I love beyond words, but I don't care enough for the rest of the artist's work—or I'm inexperienced in the other tracks.

So picking out the vinyls feels like its own science because I'm weighing the value of each album (roughly $20-30/pop). I budgeted about $150 for myself to start for favorites, especially because I convinced myself that this would be the missing piece in my book revision setup i.e. help me prime myself to dive into each day of work—or to wind down after without losing the essence of Mountain Sounds. (What can I say? It's atmospheric. It fits the vibe.)

And then, of course, I'm steered towards albums that were on sale. In no particular order, here are the seven albums I'm starting with on vinyl:

Chief — Eric Church

Eric Church is one of my favorite artists, and tracks like Springsteen mean a lot to me personally.

And It's Still Alright — Nathaniel Rateliff

First, Nathaniel Rateliff would just sound right on vinyl. From his original band (Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats) which calls back in time to his solo adventure here. And It's Still Alright is my song of the year, and listening to it as a record track felt so full circle and bittersweet that it choked me up. Listening to the full record is also how I discovered my current obsession, Time Stands.

Moment of Truth — The Red Clay Strays

The Red Clay Strays are romantic to me. I'm Still Fine is also one of my favorite songs of the year (don't psychoanalyze me too much for those references right in a row) and they also fit this shorthand of what I call "white lights, slow dance, sunburn" music, to the extent I use that exact phrase in my book.

Lungs — Florence + the Machine

This one's purely for the book. Florence + the Machine has always been otherworldly to me, and there are specific, atmospheric tracks (like Howl and, of course, Cosmic Love) that correlate to some of the darker scenes. Plus, any album like this that digs into creativity feels like it would express some greater nuance on vinyl.

Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going — Shaboozey

Shaboozey's clinched a spot as one of my favorite artists, also. Often when I catch myself just absolutely obsessing over a given song, it's Shaboozey. Soulful country-ish belt.

The Calm and the Chaos — James Bay

James Bay is slower and more melancholy, and also romantic. If you were to compress yearning into a track? This. Also, it reminds me of 2014 contemporary dance classes at my high school studio. Need the Sun to Break is absolutely a book song for plot reasons, and I'd recently been talking with a writer friend about how much we loved this album.

Purgatory — Tyler Childers

Like many, I adore Feathered Indians. This was on sale, and I also love supporting Tyler Childers. His bluegrass and Appalachian influence are also book-adjacent!

Vinyls on My Wishlist

My mom already tried and failed to hide a Christmas gift from me (Stick Season by Noah Kahan, of which I have the accompanying candle) so I know that will shortly belong to my collection. It'll be a minute before I can justify adding another few vinyls, but I'm thinking I can correlate them to book milestones i.e. if I solve a really significant plot problem that takes me weeks, I'd pick out a new vinyl as a reward.

Some of these are out of stock online, too expensive, or just in the queue i.e. didn't make the first cut. Because I have a few moody picks to start for book-related work, I also don't only want to be sad when listening to my records! And then, for some of the artists above, I want multiple albums from them.

I'll have to start keeping an eye out.

RECORD-Y