Let’s set the scene: it’s a grey, rainy Sunday afternoon. You’re at home, hidden from the world, relishing a moment of solace. The pitter-patter of rain outside somehow evokes a feeling of sentimentality and reflection, and you use the time to contemplate the week that’s just passed and to prepare for the days ahead. On top of the rain, you’ll be needing some music – so we’ve put together the perfect soundtrack.

The Doors – ‘Riders On The Storm’

‘Riders On The Storm’ opens with sounds of rain and thunder, setting the scene for the track, and for your rainy afternoon. A percussion rhythm soon emerges, followed by Ray Manzarek’s iconic keys and Jim Morrison’s vocals. The hypnotic feel of the song was the result of a lengthy jam session – their last ever. This was the final song Morrison recorded before his death in 1971.

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Massive Attack – ‘Teardrop’

This iconic trip-hop staple feels like it was made for rainy days. Simple and beautiful, the blend of those gentle beats and piano chords with Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals is truly sublime. While recording the track, Fraser found out that Jeff Buckley, a personal friend and once-in-a-lifetime musician, had died – so the song’s evocative, emotional nature is very real indeed.

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Bon Iver – ‘Holocene’

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon explained the sentimentality of this stunning, sad, guitar-laden track, focusing on the repeated lyric ‘And once I knew I was not magnificent.’ “Our lives feel like these epochs,” he told NPR in 2011. “But really we are dust in the wind. But I think there’s a significance in that insignificance that I was trying to look at in that song.”

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Sufjan Stevens – ‘This Dress Looks Nice On You’

More than almost anybody else of the past two decades, Sufjan Stevens has an innate, remarkable ability to elicit soul-stirring, devastating emotion from the most minuscule and delicate sounds. While the whole album, Seven Swans, was almost entirely rooted in lyrics pertaining to biblical passages and Christian imagery, this is a song about a girl – and a crushing one at that.

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Radiohead – ‘Decks Dark’

Radiohead’s 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool was not their most dramatic or experimental album. It was, however, their most quietly introspective, with poignant moments revealing themselves through even the subtlest pieces. The shuffling percussion and twinkling keys of ‘Decks Dark’ mingle with Thom Yorke’s surprisingly direct lyrics – a personal song, one that easily inspires personal reflection.

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James Blake – ‘Overgrown’

The opening track to James Blake’s second record set the tone for the whole album, and really encapsulates his career as a whole. The first time I heard the album was on a rainy Sunday in London a few months after its release; music has a powerful ability to evoke specific memories, and that precise atmosphere has stuck with me ever since. It couldn’t be more perfect for that exact setting.

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Portishead – ‘Roads’

This album, and this song, in particular paints an intimate, elegant portrait of deep sadness and alienation. There’s an understated quality to ‘Roads’, at once heartbreaking and comforting, with a melody that is devastating in its softness. In just a handful of lines, it portrays a scene of despair, uncertainty and self-doubt: the most fragile depiction of contemplation.

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Rhye – ‘Open’

This song opens with strings, brass, a harp, clarinet and multi-layered vocals, but it doesn’t blow up like you might expect – instead, it internalises all of that passion and feeling, with the different sounds each emerging in their own time throughout. Coupled with intimate lyrics and a sensual melody, this track glides under the radar with remarkable fluidity.

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Frank Ocean – ‘Chanel’

By far the newest track on this list, Frank Ocean’s newest song is every bit as possessing and exquisite as his albums. Like many others on this list, it is anchored by a meditative rhythm, a simplistic melody, and evocative lyrics. On ‘Chanel’, Frank is talking very much about his own experiences, but in a way that doesn’t separate him from his audience – it draws us even further in.

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Led Zeppelin – ‘The Rain Song’

Finally, we arrive at one of the greatest rainy day songs of all time. One of Led Zeppelin’s most delicate and thoughtful compositions, ‘The Rain Song’ sees the legendary band playing up their softer side. The song was actually inspired by George Harrison commenting that the band never wrote any ballads; rising to the challenge, they produced this ruminative, timeless, eight-minute masterpiece.

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Rainy days are best spent indoors, with music, tea, and personal reflection. But if you’re stuck outdoors, fret not – Ultimate Ears Wireless Speakers can keep the tunes flowing in the wettest conditions. Learn more here.