10 songs to ease the transition from summer to autumn
Autumn is well on its way. The days are getting shorter, the mornings are turning darker, and the weather already feels colder. The heatwaves of June are but a distant memory as September arrives and brings with it that familiar gloomy reminder that another summer is over.
Accordingly, the summer soundtrack must be abandoned. The sounds of Confidence Man don’t hit quite the same when it’s no longer festival season, and the Barbie soundtrack is far too pink and preppy for rainy days. Still, there seems to be a collective clinging onto the summer of 2023, a desperate hope for just one more day of sun.
Though we’re not quite in the throes of shoegaze season just yet, a sonic reshuffling is still necessary as the sun starts to set before 8pm. Autumn requires a different sound. To ease the transition of seasons, we’ve collated ten songs that toe the line between the bright euphoria of summer and the cosy, hazy feel of autumn.
From the soft sounds of Yo La Tengo to the comforting tones of The Beach Boys and to the distorted guitars of Alex G, find our playlist of summer-to-autumn tracks below.
10 essential songs for autumn:
10. ‘Autumn Sweater’ – Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo remain one of the comfiest bands around. As implied by the song title, their sound veers more into the autumnal than the summery, but the comfort of their music knows no seasonal bounds. ‘Autumn Sweater’ contains all the anxiety of the transition from summer to autumn.
With understated instrumentals and fuzzy vocals, the track dreams of a world where the narrator can slip away from the anxieties of everyday life to be with his lover. It’s hazy and autumnal, without being too doom and gloom to soundtrack the in-between period.
9. ‘Let Me Get There’ – Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Mazzy Star is an essential part of any autumn playlist, but while ‘Fade Into You’ blew up on TikTok, Hope Sandoval’s project with My Bloody Valentine’s Colm Ó Cíosóig has gone criminally underrated. Equally ethereal as their shogeazing projects but not quite as heavy or gloomy, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions are a perfect transitional artist.
‘Let Me Get There’, in particular, contains a subdued optimism that sounds like both summer and autumn at once. Lyrically, too, it focuses on transition. Sandoval and Ó Cíosóig harmonise to sing, “It’s all in the groove, let me get there, let it get there”. The calming track is the perfect antidote to autumnal anxieties.
8. ‘Come On Let’s Go’ – Broadcast
Like Yo La Tengo, Broadcast’s sound is characteristically autumnal. Wrapping Trish Keenan’s distant vocals in a warm blanket of sampling and synths, the Birmingham band carved fuzzy, layered soundscapes for late-night listening. Perhaps their biggest hit, ‘Come On Let’s Go’, works perfectly to placate the passage from summer to autumn.
There’s a sense of change and urgency in the song, as Keenan declares, “You know who to turn to, now everything’s changed, come on let’s go.” It’s a comforting song that contains both the mistiness of September and the glimmer of summer.
7. ‘RSI’ – Beak>
A slightly more upbeat track to get you through the colder weather, Beak>’s ‘RSI’ is a synth-driven song that repeats the words, “And we wait”. Though the lyrics feign stagnancy, the instrumentals are fraught and lively.
Pairing bouncy guitars with whirring synths, ‘RSI’ toes the line between the fun of summer and the cosiness of autumn. It’s repetitive without being boring – at once comforting and exciting.
6. ‘People Like Us’ – Talking Heads
The majority of Talking Heads’ discography leans towards the sound of summer. ‘And She Was’, ‘Burning Down The House’, and ‘This Must Be The Place’– their sound is, generally, dominated by sunny new wave and the influence of funk, afrobeat, and disco. Some of their music leans into darker, more minimal soundscapes, such as Fear of Music, but Talking Heads are, at their core, a summer band.
‘People Like Us’ sits right in the middle of Talking Heads’ optimism and darker moments. Over quirky instrumentals and rock guitar tones, Byrne declares, “Times were hard for people like us”. In its mundanity, the song is the perfect soundtrack to autumn – a season that finds so many in the position of Byrne’s narrator, looking for someone to love.
5. ‘Road Head’ – Japanese Breakfast
On Soft Sounds From Another Planet, Japanese Breakfast created the perfect album for autumn. On Jubilee, she abandoned gloom in favour of joy and created the perfect album for summer. Somewhere in between those sounds sits ‘Road Head’.
‘Road Head’ may have featured on Soft Sounds From Another Planet, but it’s not quite as ambient as ‘Planetary Ambience’ or as sad as ‘Boyish’. Instead, it marries playful guitars with soft lyrics and strained vocals that repeat “Home”. Subdued but still a little quirky, ‘Road Head’ provides a soothing end to the summer.
4. ‘Ice-9’ – Bug Teeth
Bug Teeth combine electronic influences with soft guitars and vague lyricism to form unique, ethereal soundscapes. They’re at their peak on ‘Ice-9’, a song which sings of “the ascension of souls towards the next thing”.
Between its ambiguous lyrics, cold, electronic-inspired percussion, and dainty layering, ‘Ice-9’ is the perfect song to take you from summer right through to Christmas day. At the end of the track, vocalist PJ reassures listeners, “We’ll be fine”, and it’s hard not to believe them.
3. ‘Are You With Me Now?’ – Cate Le Bon
Welsh artist and producer Cate Le Bon has worked with some essential autumn artists – Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Wilco… the list goes on. Her own form of indie folk incorporates influences of pop, which soften the fuzzy vibes.
‘Are You With Me Now?’ is a perfect example. It pairs clean, folky guitars with Le Bon’s distinctive vocals as she states, “I have no reason to run, I see no reason”. It’s a song that feels like a warm hug, like Le Bon is giving us the space to catch up with her as she turns back to check, “Are you with me now?”
2. ‘Gretel’ – Alex G
On the surface, Alex G seems like a certain pick for a playlist made between September and November. The prolific songwriter has curated a discography full of indie folk, from ‘Sarah’ to fan favourite ‘Sandy’. But Alex G’s influence stretches far beyond the indie and folk realms.
His eighth studio album, House of Sugar, is a prime example of this. On the record, he blends pop and electronic influences into his form of indie rock. Lead single ‘Gretel’ is just one example, with eerie lyrics and soft guitars placed amidst warped instrumentation. It’s the perfect soundtrack to the discomfort of early autumn.
1. ‘Let’s Go Away For A While’ – The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are, unquestionably, a summer band. In fact, they might even be the defining summer band. California, surfing, summer loving – their entire aesthetic was formulated around the season. Between ‘Surfin’ U.S.A’, ‘I Get Around’, and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, they’ve penned some of the most iconic sunny songs of all time.
‘Let’s Go Away For A While’, which featured on their magnum opus Pet Sounds in 1996, is an instrumental track that contains both the bliss of the summer months and a feeling of change. The perfect soundtrack to last-minute holidays or contemplative autumn walks, it’s sure to ease the transitional period.
