As we're entering the fall, I thought I share a small collection of songs that give me the feel of autumn. I tried to stay away from tracks that simply mention snow and rain and so forth, and concentrate of ones that actually create the best atmosphere and sense of the season.
I quite like autumn, even if the nights drawing in at first are slightly ominous, the cold and rain doesn't bother me. It in fact gives me the excuse to wrap up, and spend the last pennies of my saved wages on a new winter coat. It also draws to a conclusion the long countdown to yet another birthday. Which with every year becomes that little bit more alarming.
1. The Good, The Bad, & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
This song has a rather personal element to it and reminds me of the fall of 2008. A positively terrible end to an otherwise excellent year. I bumped into this track doing a college media project, and originally dismissed it as another one of Damon Albarn's attempts to be artistic, for the sake of being artistic, even if the music in itself isn't very "out there". I in fact enjoy most of Damon Albarn's work tremendously and whilst I can't see this band growing much on me, this song has. The changes of pace of piano give it quite a cold feel, and what seems to be a spiralling out of control climax really highlights the feeling of the build towards the end of the year.
2. Belle and Sebastian - Fuck This Shit
I've mentioned this track a few times on Twitter before, and the band themselves who I hold in very high regard, as something that I like. It's title may seem very "in your face" however the song is the exact opposite. Simply a harmonica instrumental. Which is trickier to play than you'd think. It's dulcet sound makes it feel like to me it is almost a sigh in musical form.
3. The Deer Tracks - Ram Ram
A very simplistic line in the song goes "let's drink ourselves to sleep". And one thing that autumn does well, is lazy, unproductive mornings in bed sleeping, and listening to the rain. Which are particularly enjoyable after a heavy night. The band themselves are Swedish, and I heard them on a radio show a while back. The soft vocals offer a sense of calm to the track, that coupled with the piano and slight electronica feel, make it a rather relaxing number.
4. Roddy Frame - Small World
This next track is the theme to the masterfully underrated sitcom 'Early Doors'. The comedy, in it's very Royle Family-esque ways, is based around evenings down a barren pub, which only ever draws in very few regulars. The track draws me to many pubs that I have visited that have been bare yet intimate and many quiets nights there with friends, before leaving the warmth for a walk home in the wind. The acoustic number is effortless and whilst never going to be a classic will always leave me with the sense of the 'small world' that I live in.
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
I'm ending this week with a quicker paced track from American based indie rockers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The track was released in 2005 and found it's way in my direction not long after on a compilation disk. The obvious references to ice, slurred singing, and the almost quite dark lyrics give a very isolated feel to the listener which in this instance I very much enjoy.
