I feel like, while using a tape might work, it would be much better if you were with a real fellow human being.
If things do start to go bad, I would want someone who can react to that, make decisions and try and help the traveler work through it.
You can't do that with a tape, since it's all pre-recorded.
I've thought that mescaline might be good. I've never tried it myself, but I have heard that it is a very gentle molecule and that it's hard to have a bad trip on it.
Is this the case?
(Might it also then be a good intro to psychedelics? I went into these things all wrong, but I have some friends who want to start exploring, and I'm certainly not going to throw them in the deep end like I was.)
As for your question, I find song lyrics don't really effect me personally as much as the overall sound of the music does.
I'm synesthetic, so if I'm going through a rough patch, on or off substances, I like to put in some songs that are (in my head), bright, colorful songs. Major chords are good. I find actually that, with a few exceptions, lyrics actually make it hard to let your mind go, as you end up listening to the lyrics yourself.
A Heavy Abacus (Qulinez Remix) - The Joy Formidable
I don't know how you feel about dance music, but that song has never failed to lift me up out of a bad experience and send me shooting off to heaven.
"There are many paths up the same mountain."