University of Oregon’s Album Listening Club provides a special community for those alike that love music. The club consists of a weekly structure that revolves around an album picked the prior week. Members are given a week to listen to the album and formulate their thoughts, then come together to discuss it during the meeting in small groups and as a whole. Album Listening Club is not only a fun way to find new music but also a good way to meet new people with similar interests. Every time I’ve been to a meeting I’ve been welcomed by friendly new people who are intrigued to discuss music. Besides the album listening aspect, the club also starts each meeting by discussing what people are currently listening to as well as new music released in the past week. Each meeting also has engaging activities such as playing a Kahoot based on the week's album, rating the album, and playing “Guess that song.” The community of the club extends past just the meetings with a very active discord group to continue the discussions and discoveries. 

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Album Listening Club’s executive board consisting of Lucy Acheson, Jonathan Tom, Jesse Geslak, Oliver Boorstein, and Aiden Sands. Here’s what they had to say about the club. 

What are your personal favorite aspects of the club?

Oliver Boorstein: “Hearing people’s opinions that probably differ from mine a lot of the time… and people being passionate about music.” 

Lucy Acheson: “Hearing about people’s new discoveries.”

Jesse Geslak: “I like seeing people connect… like when talking in the big group and two people are like, ‘oh I really like that album,’ that’s a really cool feeling. Because without this space that connection probably wouldn't have happened.”

Why did you join the board?

Jonathan Tom: “I joined pretty much immediately in my freshman year, and I was like these are my people. And I was like, I want to be as involved in this club as I possibly can.”

Oliver Boorstein: “I'm just interested in leadership in general, and then also I’m a big fan of the club and I enjoy going a lot. I like all the other people on the board, so, pretty easy decision.” 

What would you say to encourage people to join?

Lucy Acheson: “I usually tell them it’s really fun.”

Jesse Geslak: “It’s not like a high-stakes club, just come and go as you please. It’s kind of just a place where people who enjoy music can come and hang out.”

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life what would it be? 

This question highlighted the various music tastes of each of the board members, which further shows how much variety in terms of music this club has to offer. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the club explores and covers many genres throughout the meetings. The answers from the board on this question included the following; “You’re Gonna Miss It All” by Modern Baseball, “Live at Red Rocks ‘22” by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, “Grace” by Jeff Buckley, “Four-Calendar Café” by Cocteau Twins, and “fishmonger” by underscores.