Autumn is my favourite time of year, and while I talk a lot of romantic talk about the smell of the air as you scrunch through the leaves, my love for this season is largely music-related. Okay, so autumn's relatively close proximity to Christmas certainly doesn't hurt, but even if I didn't have some presents and a roast turkey to look forward to, this would still feel like the perfect time to revisit my favourite albums.
Yes, I'm one of those insufferable wankers who genuinely believe that music sounds better in autumn, to the point where many of my favourite albums are totally contraband during the warmer months. I fear that listening to them when the sun is out may spoil them somehow, and so I save them for the dark nights and the crisp days that make up much of October and November.
The clocks don't go back for another couple of weeks, and so proper autumn is yet to begin. Still, it's October now, and so it's high time I started getting my autumn playlist in gear - here are three of the albums that I've been saving for the occasion...
Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsytem
It's strange - as I typed the title of this album just now, I realised that some people probably consider SoS to be a big summer banger. Tunes like North American Scum and Watch the Tapes aren't exactly intimate, autumnal numbers, but I bought my copy of LCD Soundsytem's second album pretty late in 2007, and when I hear it, I'll always think of walking down Queen Street and gazing up at the Christmas lights while Someone Great twinkled in my ears (as opposed to the sweaty music festivals with which you might associate it).
Week of Pines by Georgia Ruth
Week of Pines was not my first choice to win last year's Welsh Music Prize. Nor was it my second choice, or even my third; it just seemed a little tame compared to the assortment of ecstasies offered by Furniture and Praxis Makes Perfect.
Still, that was then, and I found myself really looking forward to hearing these songs again this year. I've already had a few listens to Week of Pines over the last week or so, and I'd almost forgotten how much I love the crashing guitar riff in A Slow Parade and the long, low bassline that brings Winter - and the album - to a close. Even the songs that bored me last year (yes, it's the ones in Welsh, I'll admit it) have taken on a new warmth that will be keeping me nice and toasty over the next couple of months.
9 by Damien Rice
Words cannot describe how excited I am for Damien Rice's new album (out 3 November) - I haven't even listened to the single yet, because I want to save myself for the full experience.
At least I can get under a duvet and curl up in 9 while I wait for the new one. This is the perfect album for a cold, lonely autumn night - I distinctly remember one occasion, a few years ago, when I went up to my bedroom, turned off all the lights, and put 9 on the stereo, eager to bask in its angsty beauty with no interruptions or distractions.
Of course, that plan was scuppered when my mum came in to make sure I was feeling okay. In retrospect, all of that could quite easily be misconstrued as the behaviour of an immedicable depressive, but I don't remember feeling particularly distraught that evening - I just wanted to feel the music, man!
So those are three of my autumn albums. Why not tell me yours in the comments?
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