Fall. Just thinking about the season gets me excited. I can wear big sweatshirts, watch horror movies and ride my bike to class without getting so sweaty that it looks like I just got out of a pool.
There’s something for everyone in fall. Whether you’re enjoying a cozy bonfire with friends or suffering from the soul-crushing workload as midterms descend upon you like a pack of rabid dogs, it’s a nice time to be alive.
So, here are a few of my favorite songs to listen to in the fall. There are some bright tones, and there’s some dark stuff, too.
“Cutting My Fingers Off” by Turnover
The Virginia Beach pop-punk band turned dream-pop heroes crafted an album's worth of hazy, buoyant songs with cult classic 2015 record “Peripheral Vision.” The album itself is so synonymous with fall that it spawned multiple “Ah, shit here we go again” memes featuring its album art.
In “Cutting My Fingers Off,” lead singer Austin Getz laments the dissolution of a past relationship.
“And every dream I’ve ever had’s been of a better view with a 10-month summer,” croons Getz over distorted guitars. “Losing you is like cutting my fingers off."
The sound is bright and dreamy, but the lyrics are the stuff of nightmares.
“End of the Summer” by Joyce Manor
It’s in the name. Summer is over. Case closed. It’s time for fall.
Joyce Manor’s 2014 darling, “Never Hungover Again,” boasts some of its finest work thus far. “End of the Summer” — like most of its discography — is an exercise in brevity. The song is less than two minutes long, but it packs a firm punch. It’s crammed full of bouncy bass lines, roaring guitars and stacked vocals. It’s a perfect sendoff to summer, trading in brighter tones for newer, darker threads.
“I start to feel it fade away,” singer Barry Johnson shouts. “There’s nothing I can do. At the end of the summer."
“How Long?” by Vampire Weekend
“How long till we sink and it’s only you and me?” frontman Ezra Koenig asks on a chorus full of haunting keys and warped guitar.
The entire song is an existential crisis. It’s one of the few songs in the band’s catalogue that sounds better suited to soundtrack a night drive rather than a day at the beach.
It’s best to keep at least one Vampire Weekend track in the repertoire at all times. Usually, I put Vampire Weekend on for a day by the pool. Thankfully, the band took pity on us this year and decided to record one track for the fall season.
“(You) Know How I Like It” by American Pleasure Club
This might be the most fall weather song I have ever heard in my life. A majority of it sounds straight up haunted. Honestly, every song off the band's 2018 album “Tour Tape” sounds demonic.
Baltimore artist Sam Ray, oftentimes known as Ricky Eat Acid, has been making experimental bedroom pop and rock music since 2010. He’s been a member of bands Julia Brown and Teen Suicide, the latter which has now been renamed as American Pleasure Club.
A lot of Ray’s production is murky and lo-fi. A majority of his songs sound as if they’ve been haphazardly put together, like there are multiple different pieces being stitched together to make one strange quilt. “(You) Know How I Like It” is no exception.
Looping drum machines underscore dissonant, eerie tones. Half of the synth instrumentals in the song are so distorted they sound like a breathy, human chorus. But it all works. The track ties everything together, delivering a foggy trip through the woods.
“Midway” by Bad Bad Hats
Ah, cuffing season. It’s time for everyone to get together and fall in love or whatever.
Except it’s not. Fall is about it being dark at 6 p.m. and that’s it. Cuffing season doesn’t exist.
Midway is the perfect anti-cuffing song from 2015. It’s a brisk pop rock song all about breaking up and falling out.
“Midway between the end and the start,” frontwoman Kerry Alexander sings over glossy guitars. “I cried like a baby. I tore you apart.”
Fall is a time to get introspective. It’s real sad boi hours now.
Oh, boy! We got bonus tracks. Checkout the Spotify playlist for five more songs that will make you sit down in the shower.
