Robin Rocks the Divide

01

First Breath After Coma Explosions in the Sky · The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place post-rock The slow build mirrors that first morning riding out of Banff - nervous energy turning into pure elation as the Rockies swallow you whole

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Ahead by a Century The Tragically Hip · Trouble at the Henhouse Canadian rock The most Canadian song ever written — "no dress rehearsal, this is our life" is basically why you're doing this

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The Wolves (Act I and II) Bon Iver · For Emma, Forever Ago indie folk Raw and urgent like the realization you're truly alone in grizzly country for the first time

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Old Pine Ben Howard · Every Kingdom indie folk Written about sleeping under trees and wild swimming — it's basically your first GDMBR campsite at Spray Lakes in song form

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New Slang The Shins · Oh, Inverted World indie pop That feeling of "everything is about to change" — pedalling away from the trailhead with 2,700 miles ahead

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Mushaboom Feist · Let It Die indie pop A Canadian treasure — breezy and hopeful, like the daydreams you have on those first Alberta forest roads

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Everything Now Arcade Fire · Everything Now indie rock Montreal's finest — the overwhelming sensory rush of day one when every vista through BC is almost too much

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Northern Wind City and Colour · Little Hell indie folk Dallas Green is Canadian and this is your first campfire — sore legs, watching embers rise toward unfamiliar northern stars

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01

Holocene Bon Iver · Bon Iver indie folk Written in a remote Wisconsin cabin, it captures that feeling of being wonderfully small against a Montana valley

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Montana Tycho · Dive ambient electronic The title writes itself — warm synth layers that move like light through pine forests

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Movement Hozier · Wasteland, Baby! indie rock Driving rhythm that matches the cadence of a loaded bike climbing through Flathead Valley

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Kettering The Antlers · Hospice indie Hauntingly beautiful — the kind of song that hits different when you're hours from another human being

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Re: Stacks Bon Iver · For Emma, Forever Ago indie folk By Montana you've found your rhythm — this is the quiet evening song when the routine finally feels like home

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Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Arcade Fire · The Suburbs synth rock Every Montana ridgeline reveals another range behind it — mountains beyond mountains, exactly as promised

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Two Weeks Grizzly Bear · Veckatimest art rock Dreamy and layered like morning mist in a Montana valley — and the band name fits grizzly country perfectly

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Your Hand in Mine Explosions in the Sky · Those Who Tell the Truth... post-rock Wordless awe — for the moment Big Sky Country lives up to its name and you run out of words entirely

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Intro The xx · xx minimal Sparse and perfect — the musical equivalent of sagebrush stretching to every horizon

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An Ending (Ascent) Brian Eno · Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks ambient Originally scored for NASA footage, it somehow captures the lonely grandeur of Lewis and Clark country

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Midnight City M83 · Hurry Up, We're Dreaming synth pop That saxophone solo hits different watching the Milky Way from a sleeping bag in zero-light-pollution Idaho

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Frontier Psychiatrist The Avalanches · Since I Left You plunderphonics Weird and surprising — matches the mild delirium of riding alone through the backcountry for days

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Svefn-g-englar Sigur Rós · Ágætis byrjun post-rock Otherworldly and drifting — the hot springs steam rising off your body at sunset in the Lemhi Valley

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Nantes Beirut · The Flying Club Cup indie baroque Trumpet and accordion create a strange intimacy that fits those rare encounters with other humans on the trail

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Bloodbuzz Ohio The National · High Violet indie rock That restless energy of being far from everything you know but unable to stop moving forward

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Peru Fireboy DML · Apollo afrobeats Unexpected on a mountain bike trail — but the floating rhythm is exactly what sagebrush flats feel like at golden hour

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Inertiatic ESP The Mars Volta · De-Loused in the Comatorium prog rock Chaotic and relentless — the musical equivalent of a 40mph headwind trying to push you back to Canada

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The Less I Know the Better Tame Impala · Currents psych pop Hypnotic groove for those endless straight roads where you stop checking mileage and just pedal

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Lone Star The Breeders · Title TK alt rock Gritty and sparse like the Great Divide Basin — music that doesn't flinch from emptiness

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Immigrant Song Led Zeppelin · Led Zeppelin III hard rock Sometimes the wind is so brutal you need something primal to scream into the void

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Teardrop Massive Attack · Mezzanine trip hop Dark and propulsive — fits the strange beauty of Wyoming's red desert as shadows stretch at dusk

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Myxomatosis Radiohead · Hail to the Thief art rock Paranoid and driving — captures the mental warfare of the Basin when you haven't seen a person in 12 hours

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No Cars Go Arcade Fire · Neon Bible indie rock Anthemic defiance against the elements — the rally cry when your legs want to quit but you refuse

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Genesis Grimes · Visions art pop Alien and shimmering — the Great Divide Basin looks like another planet and demands alien music

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01

Outro M83 · Hurry Up, We're Dreaming shoegaze The most triumphant piece of music ever made — save it for the moment you crest Indiana Pass at 11,910ft

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Midnight on the Interstate Trampled by Turtles · Stars and Satellites bluegrass Breakneck bluegrass that matches your heartrate descending a Colorado pass through golden aspens

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Third of May / Ōdaigahara Fleet Foxes · Crack-Up baroque folk Layered harmonies that unfold like the view above treeline — complex, vast, and emotionally overwhelming

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Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd · The Wall prog rock That guitar solo IS what thin air feels like — your body is shattered but your mind is flying

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On the Nature of Daylight Max Richter · The Blue Notebooks neo-classical For the quiet alpine meadows above 10,000ft where wildflowers and marmots are your only company

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Mykonos Fleet Foxes · Sun Giant EP indie folk That chorus feels like cresting a ridge and seeing the next valley spread out below you

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Everlong Foo Fighters · The Colour and the Shape alt rock Raw devotion — by Colorado you're in a relationship with this trail and this song is your commitment

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Saturn Stevie Wonder · Songs in the Key of Life soul Joyful and cosmic — matches the giddy altitude-induced euphoria of riding above the clouds

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01

Ashes of American Flags Wilco · Yankee Hotel Foxtrot alt country Sprawling and restless Americana — the perfect soundtrack for riding through Ghost Ranch country questioning everything

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Arrived in Gold Calexico · Feast of Wire desert rock Calexico literally makes music about this landscape — mariachi horns and Southwestern dust in every note

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Dissolve Me alt-J · An Awesome Wave art rock Dreamy and slightly unreal — like the heat shimmer rising off the road south of Ghost Ranch

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Maria Tambien Khruangbin · Con Todo El Mundo psychedelic funk Thai-funk meets Tex-Mex vibes — the perfect border country groove as you ride toward Mexico

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The Night We Met Lord Huron · Strange Trails indie folk For the last few days when you realize this transformative experience is almost over and you're not ready to let go

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Under the Bridge Red Hot Chili Peppers · Blood Sugar Sex Magik alt rock Loneliness and beauty intertwined — the final stretch to Antelope Wells when you're alone with your thoughts

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Ojitos Lindos Bad Bunny ft. Bomba Estéreo · Un Verano Sin Ti Latin Tender and bilingual — as the trail ends at the Mexican border, two cultures meet in one perfect song

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Sky Blue Peter Gabriel · Up cinematic The journey's end - a sublime and epic reminder of the open road, the trail experiences, and of home

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