The Chillout Lounge Mix - Statecraft

Statecraft: The Art of Switching On. States are the hidden architecture of our days. Flow is one, meditation is another, but there are countless more: alertness, softness, focus, play, stillness, charge, surrender. Most people stumble between them unconsciously, dragged by circumstance, tension, or distraction. But the truth is, states aren’t accidents. They’re instruments. And when you learn to play them, life starts to feel less like reaction and more like composition.

This mix is about that art. Think of it as a sonic studio where you’re the producer. Attention is your patch bay, environment is your rack, nervous system is your live mix. The tracks here aren’t just music; they’re thresholds, doorways into different configurations of being. Playful, joyful, energetic, deep, poetic, flowing, dreamy, reflective, relaxing, meditative.

Some passages sharpen you, narrowing the lens so the world comes into tight focus. Others widen the frame, opening space until the edges dissolve. A shift in tone can charge your body with forward motion, a soft dissolve can calm your system into stillness. The mix is built with intent: to remind you that every state has an entry, a middle, and a release. I like to end my mixes more toward meditation as this locks in the states achieved before and gives space and time to reset and integrate.

You don’t have to name the states you move through. Just notice them. Feel when the beat carries you into momentum, when the ambience washes you into reflection, when the silence between tracks creates its own music. Each transition is a small choice: do you stay where you are, or do you step across the threshold?

For me, states have always been the real terrain of training, music, and life. Running taught me what it felt like to switch from fatigue into flow. Meditation showed me the subtle hinge where thought lets go. DJing revealed how sound itself can turn a crowded room into a single, breathing organism or soundtrack a sunset and bring together all kinds of people in a single special moment. Over time I realised all of these were versions of the same thing: statecraft. The ability to tune, to switch, to step in and out with awareness.

The beauty is, states aren’t permanent. They’re fluid. You don’t have to be trapped in agitation, heaviness, or noise. With the right cues, movement, rhythm, focus, music - you can change channel. You can soften or sharpen. You can return to clarity instead of waiting for it to arrive by chance.

This mix is one way in. Use it however you like: to spark focus before work, to soundtrack a walk or a training session, to transition from the charge of the day into the calm of evening. Let it drift in the background, or lean in and let it take you fully. It will meet you where you are, but if you let it, it will carry you somewhere new.

The more I’ve lived inside states, the more I’ve learned this: switching on and off is an art form. It’s not about chasing highs or suppressing lows. It’s about knowing the palette you have, and learning how to paint with it. Every day, every mix, every movement is another chance to refine the craft.

Tracklist:

Better - Weval

This Won't Do feat. Cézanne - Alexander IV

Chía (Original Mix) - Not Demure

Twingo - Markus Homm

Dark Forest (Original Mix) - Big Al, Below Bangkok

Envision (BDTom Remix) - Addex

Neverending (Hraach Remix) - Yigit Atilla

A Moment In Time (Ranj Kaler Medicinal Remix) - Alexander Church

Blinky Blue Eyed Sunrise (Original Mix) - The Metaluna Mutant

Light Beyond [Anjunachill] - Tagavaka

Hibernation - Jonathan L'Esperance, Antarctic Wastelands

Awakening - Jonathan L'Espérance

Symphony of Symmetry - Niclas Lundqvist & Raphah