Idles frontman Joe Talbot has shared the three tracks he recommends to help get kids to sleep at bedtime.
READ MORE: Idles’ Joe Talbot: “I find love fascinating and empowering”
The recommendation came as the singer-songwriter appeared on CBeebies’ Bedtime Stories as the latest musician to take part in the children’s series.
For the episode, which aired last week (February 20), the Idles frontman read the rhyming picture book Under The Love Umbrella, which was written by Davina Bell and illustrated by Alison Colpoys.
Elsewhere in the episode, he also shared the three tracks he personally recommends to help kids – and their parents – drift off.
“Hello. I’m Joe from Idles, and these are my song choices to soothe your little ones,” he said to introduce the segment.
For his first choice, Talbot recommended the 1998 song ‘Tezeta’ by Mulatu Astatke. “That’s Ethiopian Jazz and it feels very much like the path of a butterfly,” he said, explaining the decision. “And it soothes me too.” His second choice was the track ‘Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore’ by Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding, with the musician describing it as “a beautiful song by two beautiful artists, with two beautiful voices”.
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“My third choice is another absolutely wonderful pairing: ‘Your Young Voice’ and it’s by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins,” he continued. “The whole album is a beautiful, beautiful journey, using field music and all sorts of things. It’s a wonderful vignette. I really love it.”
Later on, Talbot also shed light on his routine to get a good night’s sleep, saying: “My trick at bedtime is that I have a very strict regime that involves the same playlist that is on a streaming site.”
“I just do the same thing at the same time every night [and have done for the last four and a half years when I’m home,” he continued. “It’s almost like a trigger. It’s a subversive act of tricking them by having the same thing every night. It works for me and I do not care if it works for you.”
During his reading of Under The Love Umbrella, the musician told viewers that he pursued a career in music because it meant he “get[s] to make music with my friends…share my music with lots of people by singing my songs on stage […and] tell everyone how I’m feeling with the words I write.”
After reading the book, Talbot described it as “wonderful” and told viewers that “love can be something really big or something really small”. He added: “But love is magical, and powerful, and real.”
He is the latest star to read a Bedtime Story, joining musicians who have previously lent their voices including Dave Grohl, Dolly Parton, Harry Styles, Elton John and Phoebe Bridgers.
In other Idles news, the band released their fifth album ‘Tangk’ earlier this month (February 16). In a four-star review, NME said the project was “the most open-hearted we’ve ever seen them”, adding: “The ambitious and mature fifth album has its hand on its heart and feet on the dancefloor, as the Bristol band prove that they’re so much more than punk.”
Talbot also spoke during a recent interview with NME, and opened up about why he was interested in showing “the different facets of love that are not so conventional”, but are “very fucking important” like “empathy, patience, honesty, communion, hard work, recovery, forgiveness”.
“That’s what I wrote about. I’m still there,” he explained. “I’m still going to need to go through it, and I’m still very much interested in writing about love forevermore. I find it fascinating and empowering.”
Idles are set to tour in the UK, Ireland, Europe and North America throughout 2024, having kicked off the stint in Belgium earlier this month. Visit here for any remaining UK/Ireland tickets and here for US tickets.