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Escape The Noise: Watch 9 Lullabies From Austin

Lydia Ainsworth performs "Afterglow" in the <em>Optic Obscura</em> installation during SXSW.
NPR
Lydia Ainsworth performs "Afterglow" in the Optic Obscura installation during SXSW.

Nighttime is restless. Even in our sleep, we are moving in our dreams, or involuntarily flopping around the bed disturbing a loved one, be it a significant other, a dog. Lullabies are written to calm these restless minds, but maybe they should also recognize the motion of the day.

The SXSW music festival certainly is restless and, for three years now, we've filmed some of our favorite artists performing quieter songs — you could call them lullabies — on hotel beds, off balconies, in art installations and wherever else we could rest and take a minute, to breathe and to listen. Below are nine South X Lullaby performances featuring Phoebe Bridgers, L.A. Salami, Lydia Ainsworth, Valerie June, Let's Eat Grandma, Jealous Of The Birds, Nick Hakim, DakhaBrakha and a duet between Nina Diaz & Y La Bamba's Luz Elena Mendoza.

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