Which Albums and Songs Remind You of Fall?
Don't you dare say “Sweater Weather”
Have you ever crunched a crinkly red leaf on the sidewalk while listening to Yo La Tengo’s “Autumn Sweater” in your headphones? If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
I’m hesitant to say that fall has a sound the way summer does, but for me, it’s indie rock and folk music. Close, almost haunted-sounding vocal harmonies and rangy, Neil-ish guitar solos. Lo-fi recordings and distortion that leans warm, or like some big woodwind and/or brass and/or harp moment. Not spooky but like there’s a past to the recordings, maybe a couple spirits lurking. A sense of closure or processing—this isn’t the hope of spring and the freedom of summer, but it’s also not the social isolation of winter. These are albums for good long walks spent staring at the changing colors on the trees, perhaps while wearing a scarf but at the very least while holding a hot beverage. Forgive me for the trad view of autumn—I grew up in a forest in Ohio, and someday will molt into my final form as a Leafblower Guy.
Some music that comes to mind: The Roches’ 1979 self-titled, Grizzly Bear’s breakthrough LP Yellow House, anything by the underrated guitarist Chris Cohen, Buckingham Nicks, Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One AND I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, Adrianne’s Lenker’s “not a lot, just forever,” Leon and Mary Russell’s Wedding Album, Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans, Joni Mitchell's Hejira (in part because Joni is all cape and beret on the cover—moodboard!!!!!), and of course: Feist’s The Reminder.
Like clockwork every October, I reach for the Broken Social Scene singer-songwriter’s third album, from 2007. It was her pop crossover moment, thanks to the infinite lovability of “1234,” but it’s really so much more: A perfect folk-pop record that is both devastatingly intimate and regal in its orchestration (love me some tastefully ornate ‘00s indie). Some fall-adjacent facts: On one song, Feist refers to a lover as her Brandy Alexander, which is a rich, creamy, (historically) cognac-based cocktail; I’ve never had it but you sure as hell won’t catch me drinking cognac in like, May. Also, on a witch scale of 1 to Stevie Nicks, “My Moon My Man” is a solid six, like Sandy Bullock in Practical Magic.
You know what the sound of fall is to me? The part halfway through “Sealion” when the ghostly chanting and handclaps break, and one fuzzy little guitar riff leads you to a long, smoky solo. The field recordings of birds throughout “The Park,” these naturalistic details of beauty amid a song that’s drowning in its own nostalgic longing. “The seasons have changed from the present to past,” Leslie Feist sings, sprawling out all over the word “past.” Try not to get too lost looking back this fall, OK? One thing in, one thing out.
Your turn: Which songs and albums do you turn to in autumn?
