Lana + Crosleys
My first. Lana’s Del Ray’s Born To Die record.
No, I didn't own a record player at the time and so have officially taken impulsive buying to the next level. After weeks of lurking around Urban Outfitter’s vinyl section; I had to buy something. I was studying abroad at the time and knew that I had no space for a proper Crosley in my suitcase, and so buying a vinyl for the moment seemed to suffice.
At that point of my summer abroad in Los Angeles, I’d bought more things than I could even remember. My dorm room was flooded with bags. But I knew I wanted to buy a record player, so I figured why not take a short a cut and buy a record first.
We all have that one friend that acts as a human Pinterest board; in this case she also happens to be my best friend. That person who has so many random habits and infatuations that you can’t help but try out or at least catch on to a few. I was visiting this friend in London in January of 2015, among many other things, she introduced me to records. She took me to record stores in Camden Town, and played J Cole on her pink floral beauty of a Crosley. I was hooked.
Two months after getting back from LA, I received a record player as a gift. I grabbed my Lana record, which was still perfectly wrapped in the closet, waiting for this day to come. I had also started quite a collection by then.
I perched the record player on a small wooden arabesque table at my grandmother's house in Cairo, and sat next to it listening to the crunchiest most raw version of Summertime Sadness I’d ever heard. Bliss.
Lana on record feels like drinking hot chocolate in front of a fireplace wearing a huge cashmere jumper and UGGS on a freezing winter night. Comforting, exhilarating and satisfying on every level.
“I believe nothing happens by mistake. You know, the universe has a divine plan. That sounds dramatic. ”
