Missing Sounds of New York

Missing Sounds of New York is an album made by The New York Public Library, released on May 1, 2020, through advertising agency Mother New York. The album was recorded during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine period in New York City. It includes original and archived audio to replicate the sounds of New York City prior to lockdown. The album was launched on Spotify and SoundCloud and reception was overwhelmingly positive. As of August 2020, the album has garnered more than 350,000 streams online. Background and recording During the outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, New York City instated a "pause on nonessential services and gatherings" order, which asked its citizens to stay indoors as much as possible and practice social distancing. This caused the city to effectively shut down outside of essential services, and completely transformed the way the formerly-bustling city sounded. Using a mix of found and newly recorded audio, the eight track album was recorded over 21 days in April 2020 to capture and revive the sounds of New York City that its residents were missing most.