Podcasts you should listen to while living in lockdown

Our need to hear human dulcet conversational tones is behind the popularity of podcasts.

Hearing the voice of another human is reassuring in the current climate of somewhat self-imposed isolation.

Secu secu is what amateur radio operators would call into the crackly void, seeking to communicate with someone, anyone, over the airwaves of the unknown. Short for the French work sécurité–meaning, you guessed it, security.

Hearing the voice of another human is reassuring in the current climate of somewhat self-imposed isolation. There aren’t many HAM operators around anymore, but perhaps they’ll make a comeback to circumvent mobile phone calls not connecting, with the alarming notification that "Service to the telecommunications network you are calling is temporarily congested."

Writing In Praise of Phone Calls for The New Yorker, Sarah Larson says there are few things as nourishing as the human voice, especially during a quarantine. In fact Ms Larson postulates that our need to hear dulcet conversational tones is behind the popularity of podcasts. “I’ve harbored a secret theory—that our love of the intimacy of podcasts, of the near-startling pleasure of curling up with the immediacy of a human voice in our ears, is connected to our loss of that pleasure from talking on the phone.”

The Australian does podcasts exceptionally well, from the true crime variety The Teacher’s Pet, Who the Hell is Hamish?, Bowraville, Nowhere Child, The Lighthouse. To quirkier offering with Lost in Larrimah, and The Theory of Objects. The Weekend Australian Review also features a podcast column cataloging the most compelling listening in the podcast market.

Several new podcasts covering the coronavirus crisis have popped up around the world. It’s great that major outlets now recognise the power of podcasts as a way to cover big, sustained stories. For Australian listeners, the best place to start is Coronacast, from the ABC. It’s a daily show, hosted by Tegan Taylor and Norman Swan, with 10-minute episodes predominantly built around questions submitted by Australian listeners. Swan, who also hosts The Health Report on Radio National, is a diligent and clear communicator who leans on the latest research as well as his own general expertise to try and cut through much of the confusion around how COVID-19 may impact Australians.

But if you would rather turn away from the darkness perhaps Something uplifting in times of global stress and panic.

Field Recordings is a new international project self-described as “a podcast where audio-makers stand silently in fields (or things that could be broadly interpreted as fields)”.

Episodes to date are sourced from Italy, Puerto Rico, America and Australia. Some are focused on nature, others capture urban scenes, but all are serene in their own way.

If you can find a quiet space and put on some headphones, there’s something immediately arresting about these recordings. It’s hard to describe without drifting into cliche, but you can genuinely feel your brain shift into a different gear.