BY: Aniruddh Nambudiri
As someone who had never experienced the fall before last year, trying to write the list last year was hell. After some time in the U.S. though, I finally know what it is about. Fall is this season where you need warmth and you need comfort. In the winter you have some expensive sweater or jacket to keep you warm and your music can be more varied. In the fall, you will almost definitely forget your jacket in a classroom in Mosse Humanities whilst being at Union South (this is an experience that has happened to me too many times to where I would admit the amount). I guess what I am saying is, if these five albums have anything in common, it's that they give me warmth when I listen to them in some way or the other and that is why they are on the fall playlist.
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You – Big Thief
If fall was a band, it would absolutely be Big Thief. Many people have said this, I am not smart for saying the same. What I am saying is that having them on a playlist like this is almost a given and for good reason. This album has grown on me as the days go by and that's with me loving it the moment it came out. I guess I just continue growing up and relating with Adrianne Lenker more as the days go on. Songs like ‘Change' and, of course, ‘Simulation Swarm' are kind of the reason the fall is a musical vibe these days. ‘Simulation Swarm' is almost too perfect of a song for a fall playlist of mine as I will continuously remove my hands out of said jacket pocket to rewind it, or to replay the guitar solo, or to replay just the start over and over again. Though not on the album, ‘Vampire Empire' also is on a playlist like this.
I'm Wide Awake Its Morning – Bright Eyes
I'll admit it, I was really late to this album. I did not have it in high school, I did not even really have it in freshman year. I listened to it the summer before college and for some reason, I did not get it. Then, out of nowhere, on a random day in the Rheta's dish room during a run of my whatever daylist it was, ‘First Day of My Life' crushed me in a way nothing has probably since Mac Miller's posthumous album. I know it's the popular song, I know it is like in every cheesy romcom or advertisement of that time, I know. I also know it is simply one of the most perfect songs I have heard on love. ‘Lua' and ‘Land Locked Blues' and ‘Road to Joy' at the end, all of it. It screams fall. It is such a warm album at its core and as someone making acoustic music, it finally made sense to me how incredible it is.
NO DREAM – Jeff Rosenstock
Could this have just been like 20 different acoustic albums that are folk adjacent? Absolutely!
Will it be that? NO.
Jeff Rosenstock is my favourite artist of all time. I saw him live in March and ever since then, he has been my favourite of all time and the reason I started to make music. Explaining why is hard though. I guess I just appreciate how raw his energy is and how noisy he can be whilst still being so upfront and earnest with his music. More than anything though? He sounds happy and his music makes me happy. Can't it be as simple as that sometimes? NO DREAM is the album for Fall because it is the noisiest of all his solo albums and also the most emotional he has sounded on the mic in one of his albums. Songs like ‘***BNB' and ‘N O D R E A M' are my personal favourites off the album. The Ska album will also be listened to.
Ghosts of the Great Highway – Sun Kil Moon
Let's get it out of the way, Sun Kil Moon's last good album was 2014. That's all we will talk about it. Why can't we just talk about how incredible this one is? Simply one of the best albums of the 2000s and with a fall vibe, nothing gets as good as ‘Carry Me Ohio'. It is kind of the whole reason this album is here, even though the rest is great. That song might be top three fall songs all time. The drums, the lyrics, the nostalgic feeling in the sound, the bass in the background. All of it just screams fall vibes and the feeling of running out in just above freezing temperature and the comfort it can bring at times.
SMILE – Porter Robinson
I still can't believe I saw him live. He was so unbelievably good live, and this album might be my album of the year. The first four songs on this album are the best run of the year and the singles are absolutely going to be on my Spotify wrapped. As someone who finds acoustic guitars in the fall, sometimes I do want a good synth to cut through that. I will probably be relying heavily on this album for that. I find myself constantly thinking about the opening of the album's opener and how the synths come in. I also think about the synths that end ‘Cheerleader' with the slight pitch bending at the end, such a perfect moment. I also think about the sample on ‘Is There Really No Happiness' which might be the happiest song with a depressing title I've heard. This would be to counteract the saddest song I have heard with a funny title, Chat Pile's “grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg”
What are your favourite fall albums?
