In time for his 40th birthday, Leyland Kirby uploaded a 40-track set — one composition for each year — of short works under the umbrella title *We Drink to Forget the Coming Storm*. It’s an elegiac collection of nameless songs, each comprised of, as he describes it, “the same elements piano, digital strings and synthesized choir.” The result is a darkly angelic background music, somber tones for somber rooms:
At over three hours in length, the album is such a thing that the musician himself commented on its weightiness, saying in a note that accompanied the release, “[It] should be used sparingly in your own favourite track combinations.”
Kirby was born May 9, 1974, and for the 40 days (and nights) following May 9 the record is available for free. The album is set on [bandcamp.com](http://leylandkirby.bandcamp.com/album/we-drink-to-forget-the-coming-storm) at “name your price,” which includes free, but certainly chip in.