Sitting in complete silence gets boring when studying or working for long periods, so why not make it a little more fun with some tunes? Listening to music helps many students maintain focus by making studying feel shorter with how much time flies by.

According to a 2023 study published in the National Institutes of Health, researchers found that music has a positive impact on cognitive abilities, like memory and attention. The study showed that songs with a slower pace had those enhanced effects.

Here are some bands to listen to that make studying a little more fun rather than an everlasting burden.

Khruangbin

Khruangbin is a trio from Houston, Texas, consisting of members Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. The overall feel of the music style consists of funk, psychedelic, and soul instrumentals with some occasional vocal components. The snazzy bass lines and the intricate guitar riffs are so mesmerizing that they drown out the simplistic drums that are in the background. It is what makes this band’s music so easy to listen to during a study session. The songs I recommend to ease Khruangbin into your music shuffle are “Lady and the Man,” “Maria Tambien,” and “People Everywhere (Still Alive).”

Scarlet House

Moving on into the grunge scene is an upcoming artist named Scarlet House who comes from Charlotte, North Carolina. He draws inspiration from the 90s and early 2000s era of grunge and shoegaze scene. Much of his music uses heavily distorted guitars that are layered, with similar edits on the vocals that give it an ominous but calm ambience. Although some of his songs are a little on the harder side, there is a good amount that is on the mellower side like “Slowing Down,” “Lost,” and “Alone.”

Menahan Street Band

Entering a similar laneway as Khruangbin, the Menahan Street Band set the bar to a higher standard when it comes to instrumental pieces. Based in Brooklyn, New York, this band fuses jazz, soul and Afrobeat into a unique musical medley. Their music is known for its infectious rhythms and vintage feel of the classic New York jazz scene of the 60s and 70s. The songs that have the groove to get you in the mood for studying are “Ready for the Good Times,” “The World is Yours,” and lastly, “Queens Highway.”

The Retrograde

The Retrograde is a band bringing back the feel of rock n’ roll from the 1960s to the modern scene. This up-and-coming band is coming straight from Tallahassee, Florida with songs ranging in different nostalgic compositions of bands like Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their tunes use various steady guitars to give an upbeat feel alongside the punchy church organs that bring the song to life with the drums driving the song’s direction. Their newest album That’s the Spirit! consists of these characters with songs like “Closer to Somewhere” and “If 6 was 4,” with the soft rock elements all to the tune of a swing beat.

Students have a diverse palate when it comes to musical taste, especially when it comes to the choice of what to listen to when studying. Whether it be jazz, hip-hop or even rock n’ roll, all that matters is keeping focused while having a bit of fun during school.