It’s a classic college student dilemma: you put some music on to make studying for that midterm slightly more bearable, but you find yourself singing along to every word and end up not getting anything done.
What to do? Luckily, we’ve put together an arsenal of albums for those dreary study days. And for those who aren’t album fans, we’ve compiled the best tracks into a playlist, available online and ready to shuffle or play back to back.

 

 
loscil – Coast / Range / Arc. Coast / Range / Arc is about as ambient as it gets – six sheets of sound that don’t really go anywhere but hover around the ears, shifting subtly but imperceptibly. Just about any loscil album is fine study music, but Coast / Range / Arc is the gentlest; at times it acts like a blanket over your ears, at others like a bed of sound you can sink in.
See also: Gas – Pop, Biosphere – Cirque

 
Roedelius – Selbstportrait VI. With a name like Hans-Joachim Roedelius, it’d be easy to mistake the German musician for an arch composer. But his Selbstportrait albums are devoted to lighthearted sound sketches, and the sixth installment is my personal favorite. It’s amazing in how much sonic ground it covers while acting as a little murmur in the corner of the mind.
See also: Jürgen Müller – Science of the Sea, Bing & Ruth – Tomorrow Was The Golden Age

Vashti Bunyan – Lookaftering. Vashti Bunyan is ostensibly a folk singer, but she’s less focused on intricate lyricism than on creating a lush, pastoral mood with her simple arrangements and haunting vocals. Put Lookaftering on headphones in the library and you’ll feel like you’re doing your homework in a sunlit British inn.
See also: John Fahey – The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick, Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left

Voices From The Lake – Voices From The Lake. There are two versions of this ambient techno classic — the “regular” version and a 70-minute mix of the tracks into a single composition. The latter is by far the more satisfying listening experience, taking you from soundworld to soundworld so subtly as for the changes to be practically imperceptible.
See also: Donato Dozzy – Plays Bee Mask, Luomo – Vocalcity

The xx – xx.  It’s a classic, and you may know all these songs already if you were into alternative music about five years ago. But the spacious pop tunes that populate the great British indie band’s debut are perfect for studying.  Producer Jamie xx’s masterful use of empty space makes for songs that are at once catchy and unobtrusive. I can get a lot done when The xx is on.
See also: Burial – Street Halo
Follow Daniel Bromfield on Twitter @bromf3