September Playlist: Gonna Be Young Again

September is a weird, transitional month that's half summer, half autumn, and doesn't really feel properly like either. That's also true of this month's playlist, which mingles the last faded rays of summer sunshine with the first crackles of autumn.

Or it's just 10 songs I listened to lots last month. You decide.

1. Paint with the Sun by Arc Iris

(from Moon Saloon)

The piano-led new single from Arc Iris is a truly majestic thing that's just the right side of psychedelic. Read my review of Moon Saloon here.

2. Please Don't Kill Me by Reptar

(from Body Faucet)

I got this album ages ago - Please Don't Kill Me itself was a staple of my summer 2013 playlist - but I revisited it last month for the first time in a while and was pleased to find it even more packed with sweet riffs and surprises than I remembered.

3. Not for Nothing by Mutual Benefit

(from Skip a Sinking Stone)

The catchy yet understated centrepiece of Mutual Benefit's latest album boasts a beautiful little melody and evokes the feeling of camping in your car and sleeping under a coat on the back seat. Read my review of Skip a Sinking Stone here.

4. Angela by Allo Darlin'

(from We Come from the Same Place)

Allo Darlin' announced last month that they will be calling it a day after one final show in December. This presumably means that 2014's We Come from the Same Place was actually their final album, which makes wonderfully melancholy tracks like Angela sound all the more so.

5. Ora by Lisa Hannigan

(from At Swim)

A beautiful, bobbing cut from slap-bang in the middle of Lisa Hannigan's wistfully watery new album.  Read my review of At Swim here.

6. Don't Wake the Scarecrow by The Felice Brothers

(from The Felice Brothers)

The Felice Brothers' self-titled LP is another album that I rediscovered last month. It's perfect for ringing in the autumn - Don't Wake the Scarecrow was the first FBs song I heard, but weirdly,  I don't remember liking it then as much as I do now.

7. In Waves by Slow Club

(from One Day All of This Won't Matter Any More)

One Day... is a lovely-sounding album with a timbre and mood that's perfect for this time of year in a way that I can't quite put my finger on. This is one of the album's catchiest moments.

8. Phoebe's Lips by CHUCK

(from My Band is a Computer)

This song is a nigh-flawless account of what it's like to long for the past and hope against hope that you can somehow go back there and really enjoy the stuff you took for granted at the time. Read my review of My Band is a Computer here, or click here to read CHUCK's thoughts of his entire back catalogue.

9. Palaces of Montezuma by Grinderman

(from Grinderman 2)

While I was waiting to get my hands on a copy Skeleton Tree, Nick Cave's new album (blog post about that one coming soon), I found myself going back to listen to the work he did with Grinderman back in the late noughties. This is an uncharacteristically sweet love song that contrasts sharply with the band's gritter, lustier stuff.

10. We are The Gothic Archies by The Gothic Archies

(from The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events)

One of the best band theme songs ever. Wordplay and brilliant lyrics abound: "The Gothic Archies are we, with whom you should not mess, the apogee and zenith of Gothic Archie-ness."  Read my thoughts on The Tragic Treasury here.