Listening to Change: Fall Music Vignettes

As the leaves turn red and gold, we often turn to our headphones for extra warmth and comfort. Although every season is the season for music, fall is a confusing time of year — a time of death, of color, of change. Wondering what to listen to? Here’s how The Crimson’s Arts Board grieves the summer and welcomes the cold.

“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac

This fall, I find myself grieving a dreamy Italian summer in the already brisk New England air — but all hope is not lost! Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” combines lyrics oscillating between feelings of loss and acceptance with a relaxed melody, making it the perfect candidate for a go-to autumnal audio experience. Lyrics like, “In the stillness of rememberin’/ What you had and what you lost,” turn dead leaves into colorful remnants of summer, ever so slightly easing the transition into shorter, cloudier days.

Christine McVie’s strong solo voice enunciating “women, they will come and they will go” amidst the busy chorus of “Dreams” sounds like a nod to the cyclical coming and going that epitomizes this transitory season. The broad but disheartening lyrics and dreamy vocals encourage us all to find comfort in a summer well spent while we manage this uncomfortable settling in for the upcoming academic year.

—Staff writer Madelyn E. McKenzie can be reached at madelyn.mckenzie@thecrimson.com.

The Time for Covers

Fall is the time for covers. Something about the changing weather and turning leaves sets the perfect scene for leaning into the warmth of old favorites while embracing the brisk excitement of new interpretations.

As far as covers go, I’ve come to love acoustic, subdued performances of singalong pop and rock classics. The start of the semester featured Bright Eyes and First Aid Kit’s take on the back-to-school anthem “We’re Going to Be Friends.” And in anticipation of his new album, I’ve been obsessed with soft-spoken folk-singer Christian Lee Hutson’s finger-picked renditions of Taylor Swift’s “Betty” and Liz Phair’s “Why Can’t I.” Hutson really captures the autumn vibe of “standing in your cardigan” from the Swift classic.

Finally, the cover to end all covers for me is Gregory Alan Isakov’s performance of Iron and Wine’s magnum opus “The Trapeze Swinger.” Accompanied only by acoustic and slide guitar, his rich, gentle voice delivers this devastating tale of love won and lost. When Isakov croons, “Who the hell can see forever?” it feels like the line was written just for him to deliver. This performance exists as a live recording on YouTube, which makes it hard to listen to while out and about, but it's the perfect soundtrack to eight minutes spent cozy inside on a cool fall evening.

—Staff writer Andrew K. Choe can be reached at andrew.choe@thecrimson.com.

“Blue” by Joni Mitchell

This fall, I’m drawn to Joni Mitchell’s album, “Blue.”

From the desperation of “Blue” to the giddiness of “My Old Man” to the yearning of “Little Green,” the album's raw, emotional depth coalesce around the theme of change. Much like the shifting temperatures, shorter days, and transforming colors of the season, Mitchell manages to encapsulate the essence of transformation — bittersweet, beautiful, and anticipatory.

These three themes are both interwoven and dispersed amongst the carefully curated tracks, each of which offer evocative lyric choices against the backdrop of vastly different emotional appeals, mirroring the trademark polarity and “in-betweenness” of fall.

One feature that makes “Blue” particularly salient this time of year is the positioning of the song “River” as the eighth in the album’s ten-track lineup. Famously about the melancholy of the holiday season, the song begins with the line “it’s coming on Christmas,” leading Mitchell to enumerate her disdain for the holiday season and conclude with a desire to “skate away on” the song’s titular river. Much like flurried and frigid days of late November, Mitchell dreadfully anticipates the bitter bite of winter.

As a lifelong Joni Mitchell fan, autumnal enthusiast, and change-hesitant individual, listening to “Blue” feels like wrapping myself in a warm blanket of nostalgia as the days grow shorter and the world prepares for its annual wintering.

—Staff writer Lola J. DeAscentiis can be reached at lola.deascentiis@thecrimson.com.

“songs” by Adrianne Lenker

This fall, I’ll have Adrianne Lenker’s “songs” on repeat, once again. As the leaves shift from green to gold and red, Cambridge transforms into a watercolor scene much like the one on the album’s cover; where the colors bleed together, a warm blend of earthy tones meets with cooler shades at the edges – a hint of winter waiting to reveal itself all too soon. Lenker’s music mirrors this transition. Cozy and intimate, I’m enveloped by the gentle sounds of acoustic guitar and Lenker’s brilliant lyricism.

Songs like “anything” and “half return” capture the beauty and nostalgia of change. Meanwhile, “come” and “my angel” reflect fall’s quiet transformations and nature’s subtle cycle of death with the promise of life to come. Lenker’s unpolished voice carries a rawness that feels like a crisp autumn morning, where the air is still and time seems to move just a little slower.

The album, like the changing leaves, invites me to reflect. No matter how often I return to “songs,” it always feels fresh. It’s the album I rely on to ease the harshness of changing seasons.

—Jorden Wallican-Okyere