Lego creates a soothing ASMR nature playlist—using the sounds of Legos

When Lego unveiled its new Insect Collection this week, it added something a little unusual: an ASMR “Green Noise” playlist with the sounds of each insect in the collection reimagined via the clicks and clacks of Lego bricks.

The sounds were created in partnership with Emmy-nominated Foley artist, Sanaa Kelley.

“Our collaboration has felt like a full-circle moment as a few years ago, I embarked on a course to learn more about insects to debunk my fears and enhance my knowledge of the sounds they make,” Kelley said in a statement. “This was a first at my studio and challenged me to be incredibly creative with my approach to Foley.”

The insects in the group include the blue morpho butterfly, Hercules beetle, and Chinese mantis. To make each track, Kelly took the bricks that would ultimately be used to build the insects and discovered ways to recreate their iconic flutters, clicks, and snaps using sounds made by the bricks and packaging alongside other Foley techniques.

The final result, a Green Noise playlist, can be streamed directly from Lego’s site by anyone, not only those who purchased the Insect kit for $79.99. Each track is 45 minutes long, and the whole playlist is nearly 3 hours, which should give you enough time to finish building each corresponding insect—or at least make some solid progress on it.

The set, which is currently available for preorder and launches September 7, is clearly marketed to adults, a growing part of the company’s customer base. Lego notes in its Lego Play Well 2022 Report that 3 in 5 adults spend less than an hour each day relaxing. The goal of the set, and the accompanying audio tracks, says the company, is to help facilitate a little more Zen in the lives of Lego lovers.

The Lego set was originally conceived by Lego fan José Maria, from Spain. Maria submitted the design to Lego Ideas, where it received over 10,000 supporters. A lifelong Lego fan, Maria said he finds inspiration for new builds through his hobbies, some of which are photography and nature, which helped inspire the intricate designs.

The Lego Blue Morpho Buttery, for instance, is sitting on a branch in the South American Amazon Rainforest and includes a flower with a small honeybee on it.

Lego’s Hercules Beetle is placed on top of a decaying log and has removable wings, and its Chinese Mantis is displayed around brick flowers where a small seven-spotted ladybug is hiding.

The Green Noise playlist isn’t the first time the company has created music using its Lego sets. Back in 2021, Lego released a white noise playlist made using Lego bricks. That playlist includes 7 tracks, each around 30 minutes long. Rather than making the list to fit a particular set of bricks, the white noise playlist simply used Lego bricks to create a relaxing soundscape and included tracks, such as Searching for the One (Brick), which captures the sounds of looking for a single brick within a pile of others; and It All Clicks, which replicates the sounds of bricks being clicked together. Curious? You can stream that playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, among several other streaming services.