Fall is officially here as of this week, but given the, uh, interesting weather the world seems to be having, it doesn’t quite feel like fall yet.
Nevertheless, while nature is taking its sweet, sweet time catching up, there’s plenty of other ways to usher in the season. Beyond ordering pumpkin spice everything — seriously, Trader Joe’s do we really need pumpkin empanadas? — try turning on a few of our favorite autumnal albums to get you in the fall feelings.
The National: Laugh Track
Last week, The National dropped a surprise album that is coincidentally the perfect way to kick off a new fall season. It’s a cozy, autumnal album that captures the feeling of the changing seasons with its melancholic melodies, reflective lyrics and warm, inviting soundscapes. The album is full of songs that evoke the feeling of crisp leaves underfoot, crisp air in your lungs, and the fading light of the day. From the wistful “Weird Goodbyes” to the haunting “Smoke Detector,” Laugh Track is the perfect album to listen to as the days get shorter and the nights get colder.
Big Red Machine: How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
Now that we have The National on our fall mix, let’s add their side project with Bon Iver: Big Red Machine. Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon teamed up and, with a little help from famous friends like Taylor Swift (more on her later) and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, created an album that’s a little jammier than their usual work — more Grateful Dead than Paul Simon.
DEAD MAN’S BONES: Dead Man’s Bones
Ryan Gosling may have been the unofficial King of Summer with his Barbie tunes and Matchbox Twenty covers. But there’s a strong contender that Fall Gosling is even better than Summer Gosling. Back in 2009, Hollywood’s objectively best Ryan dropped a spooky album named after the band he formed with friend Zach Shields. The duo collaborated with the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir to create a hauntingly beautiful 12-track album that’s an excellent blend of Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes, which is to say it’s good. You may not be in the mood for fall yet, but after listening to this you’ll want to break out the pumpkin spice immediately.
WILLOW: The 1st
WILLOW isn’t an artist you can categorize into one genre. Her music career has gone from pop to R&B to electric and everything in between — and back in 2017, she went full fall vibes to create a raw and organic album called The 1st. Even though it was her second album, The 1st truly shows off WILLOW’s creativity with reflective songs about adolescence, growing up with immense pressure, the desire to discover oneself — you know, typical stuff. From the soft music to the insightful lyrics, this album will show you how to use this season to slow down and reflect in this changing season.
Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version)
Fall is often a major transition time, as one season of sunshine ends and a colder one settles in. But in the in-between, something beautiful always happens — reflection and change. No where is that transition more understood than on Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version). From the “autumn leaves falling like pieces into place,”, Swift paints a picture-perfect fall while also detailing the highs and lows of a relationship throughout her new(ish) album, Red (Taylor’s Version). Swift reminds us that in this cooling-off season, it’s important to look back on what we’ve gone through as we prepare for the next season of life.
