Synaesthesia and your listening habits.

I’ve been listening to psychill for a while now, and for longer even than that, I’ve had this interesting thing happen to me.

Whenever I listen to something, I can see what the song sounds like. Most recently like thirty minutes ago while listening to Bridges to Shambala.

Apparently it’s called synaesthesia, and is not all that uncommon; the specific form in question here is sound → color synesthesia, in which certain sounds have a color to them. Higher pitches have a brighter color, usually, lower pitches a darker color, and so on. With me, sometimes there is a sense of motion, like a spinning sensation to the sound.

There’s more information here.

If I’m listening to acid lounge or psychill, it tends to be more pronounced than with other genres, sometimes distractingly so; I wind up having to program my media player’s custom visualizations to get something that at least comes close to matching what I’m seeing in the music. Other times, though, it’s welcome, and exciting.

Though…apparently this is still considered weird. I’ve met a lot of people and gotten to know them well, and most of them looked at me oddly when I told them that the flute solo in “Angela” sounded silvery-blue. (“It sounds blue???”)

Who else has had this happen? And with what songs/artists? I’m curious.

i am with you! Esp. when listening to psychill- I see pulsating colors and patterns - sometimes they form vivid pictures or landscapes
sometimes just
pull sate ing brill yance

I have synesthesia, but it is mostly in relation to numbers that have colors, and months of the years are colors to me too. Its pretty weird. But yeah ...I imagine a lot of light ambient chill as the color pink and purple, the jazzy stuff is a deep pruple or a brown.. etc. certain sounds I see as colors. And it goes beyond that too when I can attrribute numbers to the music based on the colors they have in common... OCD.. synesthesia.. mentally insane.. whatever you wanna call me!

I see colors and patterns with all music - probably the reason I've usually got my eyes closed at a party is so I can concentrate on what the groove looks like.

wow, I have a bad memory. I was going to post but then read the whole thread and realized I'd already had.