City morning: warm Rhodes and easy jazz to start the day gently

The city is still quiet. Soft Rhodes chords at blue hour above the rooftops, first light on the river, sun down a tree-lined street, and an easy jazzy groove by the time the cafés open. No vocals, no alarm sounds, nothing sudden.

Watch on YouTube · SleepBetter channel · Wake-Up & Morning

Made with AI. Parts of this video are AI-generated (see “How this was made” below).

What it is

Our fourth 18-minute wake-up track, and the first one set in a city. The opening four and a half minutes are slow and mellow: electric piano, a soft pad and a few upright bass notes. Then a clean jazz guitar and light brushes come in. Around nine minutes a walking bass and soft finger snaps warm the groove, and the last stretch is bright and cheerful with vibraphone and a light drum kit, never harsh. The volume rises gradually from start to finish. Five scenes follow the morning, each a YouTube chapter: blue hour over the rooftops (0:00), first light on the river bridge (3:38), sun rays down a quiet street (7:13), a bright café street (10:47) and coffee at the window seat (14:22).

How to use it

Put it on while you make coffee, get dressed or open the first emails of the day. Start it low and let it carry you up. On a TV the skyline and sunny streets look lovely in the kitchen. A good morning usually starts the night before: our sleep calculator works backwards from your alarm, and how much sleep do I need shows the ranges by age.

How it differs from our other wake-up tracks

Gentle wake-up music moves from a lake to hills, coast and meadow. Wake up by the sea stays on the coast with soft piano and guitar. Mountain dawn is the most orchestral, with harp, horn and flute. City morning trades nature for warm Rhodes, jazz guitar and a waking skyline, which suits apartment mornings and anyone who likes a café feel without the noise.

Calm music at night too

For the other end of the day, our sleep music guide covers what makes music easy to fall asleep to.

How this was made

This video is made with AI. The music was composed with ElevenLabs Music (AI) from SleepBetter’s prompts, and the five city scenes are AI-generated images (Higgsfield), gently animated, edited and mixed by SleepBetter. No voice.

Keep watching

Video · 18 minutes

Gentle wake-up music, 18 minutes of slowly rising energy

Soft dawn pads that slowly build into a bright, happy morning. 18 minutes, in 4K.

Short

Breathe in at dawn, a soft start to your morning

One slow breath with a misty lake at first light, before you reach for your phone.

Short

Breathe out slowly, a sunrise reset on the coast

Halfway awake? A long exhale while the sun climbs over the sea.

Sound

Sleep music

Slow, drum-free piano, strings, harp and lo-fi, and what the research says.

Free tool

Sleep calculator

Pick a wake-up time and get bedtimes that line up with roughly 90-minute sleep cycles, or work forward from tonight.

Sleep videos and guided relaxation are for general wellness, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.