frisson (and music that gives us the chills)

[underused]

frisson
a sudden strong feeling of excitement or fear; a thrill

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Frisson is an old word, but people are talking about it in a new(ish) context: musical frisson.

Researchers at The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital determined that “even the anticipation of pleasurable music induces dopamine release” resulting in a galvanic skin response (the chills). It's the same kind of thrill we get from food, drugs, and sex.

According to neuroscientist Dr. Robert Zatorre:

“This is the first demonstration that an abstract reward such as music can lead to dopamine release. Abstract rewards are largely cognitive in nature, and this study paves the way for future work to examine non-tangible rewards that humans consider rewarding for complex reasons."

In other words, they want to figure out why our brains are rewarding us for something not (yet) demonstrably tied to survival.

Not everyone experiences musically-induced frisson, but studies suggest it’s more than half of us. There's even a Reddit group for people to share their most shiver-worthy recordings.

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Have you felt musical frisson? When?
Is there a song or recording that gives you a charge?

Comments

[star_fish]

Allll the time, it's one of the main reasons I like listening to music. Sometimes it's whole songs, but quite often it's some specific part. For example, guaranteed frisson-inducers for me are:

Around 2:40
Around 2:40 (amusing coincidence)
Beginning
Around 3:00

I also had no idea some people get that from eating food, haha ^^'

[underused]

The first time I heard Baba O'Riley with headphones, the intro (about the whole first minute) gave me a full body shock. I'd heard the song a million times before, but never in headphones. It was a whole brand new thing.

Weirdly, there's also a little piece of Johnny Mercer's recording of Glow Worm. Mercer's voice is kickass all the time, but there's something about the way he sings the lines "You got a cute vest-pocket Mazda / which you can make both slow or 'fazda'" (at the 2:25 mark) that makes me positively light-headed.

[firemarshallwilly]

owo Did someone say frisson? Funny cuz I was just listening to a song that gave me that. Just listen to the opening of this song:

Falconer - Griftefrid

(it's power metal :D)

Like starfish said (they brought me here), I usually get frisson from a specific part... but I prefer entire songs though. So, here are my frisson-inducers by genre:

Heavy Metal: Running Wild - Little Big Horn Who knew that The Girl I Left Behind Me makes for an excellent riff?


Power Metal: Firewind - The Fire and The Fury Just listen to it, man.

Thrash Metal: Destruction - Thrash 'til Death. The riffs do it for me.

Folk Metal: Skyclad - The Parliament of Fools. Here, it's the vocals. Kind of sad but also determined.

And, last but not least:

Death Metal:

Vader - Come and See My Sacrifice. 1:20 onwards is friggin' glorious; the riffs, the drumming, the vocals...

Cannibal Corpse - Death Walking Terror. It's just... powerful, y'know?

Blood Red Throne - Primitive Killing Machine. Currently my favourite death metal group. I just love the groovyness.

Those are just some of my favs. Metal is pretty great.


EDIT: FFS HOW TO LINk?????

[mandralyne]

Popiholla has always given me chills. Everyone always tells me to listen to the original Hopipolla by Sigur Ros but it just doesn't give me the same feeling

[merikuru]

Aah. I am a being made of frisson, I swear. There are so many songs that send Le Shivers all up and down my spine.

This is one of my favorites. His voice... *dreamy sigh*

Also this.