Welcome to The Daily Swim, a running series on The Sights and Sounds. As a lifelong swimmer, water has always served as a dichotomy to my psyche – wholly and unswervingly calming in it’s vast simplicity yet at the same time able to harness and create massive amounts of energy. Which is exactly the type of music The Daily Swim will feature – no fuss posts with tracks from great artists that serve as both calming and energizing to get you through the deep end of your day.

There’s a different ebb and flow that exists in Venice Beach. The city (that almost seems too metropolitan a word to describe the vibrant beach community) seems more in tune with jazz and it’s improvised swing rhythms than it’s psychedelic rock roots – although those vibes are most certainly present. There is a reluctance to use cars as the pedestrians soak in the sun on the way to the sprawling beaches. A certain nostalgia drips from the street art bedecked architecture, and you can as much feel the spirit of the 60’s and 70’s as you walk down Rose as the sun on your skin.

When you finally hit the beach, everything else fades from view (save the spirited boardwalk residents), and you can feel where Venice receives the true source of it’s laid back, but spirited energy: the ocean. The tides are the pulse of the community, a place for restoration and meditation, strength and power. Like Sloane Peterson‘s “Dovetail”, their exists both forward momentum and the grounding wisdom that where we are right here, right now, is absolutely perfect.

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