Over the months, we’ve brought you playlists of love songs and sidewalk stompers, rainy day tunes and Broadway favorites. These songs told of sloppy seconds and Kentucky showers, dragons and stars and blisters in the sun. But what about the moments when you don’t want your music to say anything at all, when a piano or trumpet expresses all the sentiments you need? This playlist is for those moments, whether you’re trying to write (a blog post or novel or well-crafted tweet) or just need to find a moment of zen, these tracks are here for you. “When words fail, music speaks,” quoth Hans Christian Andersen (a man who knew a thing or two about the magic of words). These songs say all the things we want to, providing inspiration, calm, or just some really lovely music to cook dinner by.

Listen on YouTube, or on Spotify!