Anyone else experience “frisson”

Yeah I get this all the time, especially with certain guitar solos or when the drums finally kick in after a long buildup - its like my whole body just responds before my brain even catches up.

I was shocked to learn that music doesn't affect everyone this way!

Good vocal arrangements have that impact on me 

There are some days where I put on songs that make me so sad and melancholy that I have to do it sparingly because it completely ruins my afternoon, & I'm a complete mess and have to be alone so no one else can see me. But it feels good to just get a good cry out of it once in awhile.

Weirdly, I experience this with music but can also induce it on command.

When the screaming starts in Knife Party by Deftones. There's a few other songs that do it for me but by bands that are barely known.

It's a spiritual experience, like you're in the moment truly feeling the music. I sometimes like to sing with the music or harmonize and it makes it so much sweeter. Truly one of the best feelings.

I feel this listening to Grizzly Bear

Every time listening to Devin Townsend's Deadhead Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Yep. Mostly with violin concertos.

A lot of post-rock and post-metal songs are great at this. My favorite is Russian Circles: 1777. Start at about the 4:30 mark.

Yes, the guitar solos in Comfortably Numb do that for me.

Honestly it makes me cry, these days at least once every show I go to I’ll have a moment where I just get so overwhelmed with the beauty of all the sounds blended together and then I have to explain to my friends why I’m crying during Primus

I usually get it from Sarah Mclachlan - Possession, not that this is the only song, but fairly consistently from that one.

yeah, though not just from music, I get it quite often from games, movies, tv shows, etc too.

I need only get goosepimples once to know a song is my jam

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Yes. Been a hot minute since ive found a song thatll do it

thank you brian wilson for inventing this feeling in 1961

Its what keeps me going

Yup. My wife thinks it's neat and she can tell because I'll actually get goosebumps with some music. Put Dark Side of the Moon on and I'll get it for almost the whole album.

I get some sort of nirvana whenever I listen to Best Part by H.E.R and Daniel Caesar. It was a song during my life I spammed constantly during times of turmoil and love… You know how you attach emotions to a song whenever you listen to music during intense times in your life?

Yes, all the time! Probably 5-6 times in the last few days. Sometimes it becomes too much. I've had periods of time where I couldn't listen to music without feeling overwhelmed with an intensity that became unpleasant. I was driving my kids the other day and "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" came on and the frisson came crashing over me as I felt every hair on my body stand on end. The song is so beautiful and melancholy and then thinking about how Otis Redding died so soon after recording it got to me. Later the same day, I went to a hockey game and felt it again and had to fight back tears when a little girl sang the US National Anthem. That was kind of mortifying on so many levels! Mostly I love it though. I've been listening the new Gorillaz album "The Mountain" and feel it on at least one track each listen. The lyrics and the musical tapestry are so moving and some of the backstory behind the collaborations makes me emotional too.

Happened tonight with Circa Survive's The Difference Between Poison and Medicine is in the Dose.

I pity the person who hasn't experienced or cannot experience Frisson. Nearly indescribable euphoria.

Yeahh...that’s frisson and it’s honestly one of the best feelings music can give, especially when a build up finally resolves or a vocal just cuts through at the right moment. It doesn’t happen with every song, but when it does it feels almost physical, like your brain and body both react at once, so you’re definitely not alone on that.

I do. It's like a high that drugs cannot top. 

I've never heard of this. Is this some type of ASMR?

Mahler #2 Ressurection

Yup, often. Overwhelming feelings that leave me on the verge or tears or straight up crying. 

All the time. One particular song has been doing it to me for the last 30 years, every single time.

I get that, but it doesn't feel euphoric...

Yep! Gryning by Carbon Based Lifeforms gets me this way. Many others too, but this is the first that came to mind. I always wondered if this was that ASMR thing but I don't think so...

Yes all the time when sober. But I gotta push back on the 'no drug can recreate' you gotta do some acid and listen to music man. If you think your frission now is good.

I got it frequently in the past but I take an ssri and I don't experience it when I'm taking it.

I do with the right song. Add a hybrid edible and some good wine or a martini, and I can almost reach orbit.

r/frisson

Anything with a solid bass drop, especially if I’m listening to it in a vehicle, with decent surround sound. Actual euphoria. One of my faves is when the bass comes in around 1:30 on ‘Hey Mami’ by Sylvan Esso. I’ve probably heard it 600 times, but it produces the same effect as the first time.

The KLF “Wichitaw Lineman” and its many variations, but especially this ambient one. Also, huge fan of “Ashitaka and San” by Joe Hisaishi (from Princess Mononoke). Nata’s Theme from Cinema Paradiso is also moving.

Yes, but usually only from classical music or something with an extended structure and big resolution like Nightwish “Ghost Love Score”

The only song that does this to me every single time is Black in the Burn by Masterplan. When that chorus hits, man, it f****** hits so good.

All the time.

I do, partial goosebumps, occasionally all over, but that's rare. The simplest way to explain is when hearing amazing 'sweet spots' in vocals, harmonies, guitars, piano, etc. When a band has moments of being fully immersed in the pocket. They're a delightful, spontaneous happening.

Not everyone gets that sensation, that’s the weird bit.

Yes! It's what signals to me that a music piece is not just good, but excellent!

Yaaaaas! Im always shocked some people have never felt that. One of the main joys of life haha

Oh yea! David Gilmours solo on Comfortably Numb, Keith Jarret’s Koln Concert, on Run to Me when the 3 brother Gibbs come in together in harmony - actually they do that for me lots, Chopin, Mark Knoplers solos, Moody Blues flute solo, Leonard Cohen oh the list goes on, Joni Mitchell- Dawntreader, unfortunately nothing more recent.

Yes similar to asmr. I feel bad other people don’t feel this

A Whisper by Coldplay. Naturally Wired by Van Halen. Regatta de Blanc by The Police.

I know exactly what that's like!

Absolutely. And I'm a old fart. There are some songs from the 70s up to today, that just hit me with the shivers, or a smile, or a tear.....or sometimes all three... music is so good for the soul.

I totally get that 'frisson' feeling. For me, it usually happens when traditional instruments meet modern sounds. If you're looking for that kind of chill, try listening to 'Arirang: Moonlight' . Around the middle of the track, the Daegeum(Korean flute) build-up is incredibly haunting and soulful. It gave me full-body chills the first time I heard it. Hope it works for you too!" Full Song: [https://youtu.be/twP6KyCTm-o?si=wPklNK4NJxzF--vj]

Eskimo by Damien Rice. The crescendo ending transports me.

Are you asking if anyone else experiences a thing common enough to have been given a name?

Holy moly there's people who don't get this?

Yeah, after I gave up the drugs I'm just livin' for the frisson.

I get this all the time. One of my favorite songs that envokes this feeling is Pagan Poetry by Björk.

Yes, I get it in ghost - year zero in the bridge

Yeah, there are some songs that give be the goosebumps.

I'm a drummer. this is how I play. I feel the music and my playing is a dance. me responding to it playing in my head and moving to make it a reality. the instrument is part of you and you are part of the song.

There’s a sub for that: r/frisson

I get it on 2 fronts; songs I listen to that affect me on an emotional level but I also compose/play my own songs and get that feeling when I'm completely dialed in to my emotions at the time. I write mostly hard rock and some slower melodic jams. Never knew it had a name. I show my kids in the car when it happens, my arm hairs stand up. The theme song by John Williams for the Superman movies does it to me every time.

Honestly.... I can get it from driving a car or riding a motorcycle. Manual transmissions are an awful lot like playing a musical instrument, and when your rev-match is perfect you can hear the happy notes and chords

Yep, I even get goose bumps

Hear me out; this happens to me with songs I don’t really care for or am indifferent to. So it’s not an emotional cause. Could it be more of a scientific thing; ie certain pitches or tone combinations trigger it even if I don’t like the song overall?

Many times

I do and I'm glad I do. Music is much more of a spiritual experience to me because of it.

Absolutely. From Weezer - Only In Dreams to Heaven and Hell - Heaven and Hell there are so many songs that give me that cathartic release. Music is the f****** best.

I hate to admit it, but I get these a lot while watching Tool reaction videos.

Vienna by Ultravox does it for me every time. Specifically the part where the violin sound dissolves into the cascading piano.

Music can be the most cathartic release for me. Doesn't always happen but sometimes the right song played through good headphones just sort of wraps me up and carries me away. I get full body shivers of pleasure and goosebumps that feel good on my neck, scalp and shoulders Playing guitar along with it amplifies it even more. And jamming with friends is even better. It's like speaking with emotions through sound, and you feed off of and amplify each other's creativity. Man I miss being in a band and playing gigs.

Helplessly Hoping. CSN. Their vocal harmonies...

Tweezer reprise

I can recall the most powerful "frisson" experience I have ever felt; it was in the middle of a particularly great rendition of "Heard it Through The Grapevine" my group was performing on stage. There was a strange fog that night; even the atmosphere in the pub was electric. The lighting was just right - and I could see the mist of my lead singer's breath as he *belted* out every lyric with particular ferocity. Even his twanging guitar solos were unusually exacting. Our harmonies were so tight, so perfect, that we all heard "Herbert", the angelic voice that often added a fourth or fifth harmony, only that night he was loud enough that even the audience seemed to be completely transfixed, mouths hanging open, eyes tearing up. I can remember my exact thought - "This is a perfect moment in time, that I will remember forever." I often wish I had a camera to take a picture, but it is burned so solidly into my memory that I can see and feel that moment right now.

yes!! it’s so incredible!

Yes, on top of getting deeply (troublingly?) emotional during most music, I get goosebumps as well as a tightness in my chest.

Yes. With vocal harmonies and mostly classical music.

Oh yeah. One of the things worth living for.

Yes, absolutely. For me the Beatles hit the hardest. For example, when the synthesizer comes in during the intro of Here Comes the Sun, or the drum fills on Let It Be, I feel those over my entire body.

Yep ♡

Often. I've definitely damaged my ears over the years chasing this dragon

On the short version of Voodoo Chile, after the wah wah start, those thunderous chords that follow always do it for me..

Absolutely!

Oh yes. Especially when I'm singing or playing. Brr💖

Maybe lame but every time I hear king gizzard and the lizard wizard and also most times I hear Radiohead

Nope. You’re the only one.

If you don’t experience frisson, you’re listening to the wrong genre and haven’t discovered your actual taste yet (or you’re on Zoloft)

https://youtu.be/F3e2f4bzumY?is=MAdyoHWuVfHXxH8h 25 years after being there, the transition between the 2 songs here makes every hair on my entire body stand on end, especially considering Bono's dad died a few days earlier. Skip to the 4 minute mark.

Ghost Town - Kanye

>anyone else get this feeling? No. Nobody else does. Literally only you. You are special and unique and the word "frisson" was made just for you. 

It’s the main reason I will not entertain the idea of any medication for depression. Anything that messes with my relationship with music will do no good. I need my music time to think. I cannot imagine life without goosebumps or even tears from a song or composition. It is my therapy.