In this episode with Dr. Anna Nekola, we discuss her recent article "Congregational Music as 'Phatic Communication': Affect, Atmosphere, and Relational Ways of Listening" (Yale Journal of Music & Religion, 2022). We explore some of the social functions of music and how it does more than open of spiritual pathways between us and God but also social pathways to connect with one another. This form of communication is more than information but about enabling and maintaining social connections.