The Last Rays and Skeleton Shadows: Best Late Fall Records

These are the days of odd shapes and acute angles. It’s not summery bliss anymore, now it’s wonder and melancholy. We wear our knit sweaters and drink steaming beverages, watching the air form from our breath with mild curiosity. The air is musty and half bitter with the smell of damp leaves on the ground- everything glitters either from a soft frost or the waning light. Those warm sunny days are over, and whatever you wanted to make happen in the long and errant middle months will have to wait till next year.

No doubt, there is a mixture of emotions happening at once. There is certainly some nostalgia for the way those brisk, sharply lit autumn days remind us of cozy bundled-up pumpkin patch rides, Football, Halloween, walking the college campus, drives in the country to snap photos of the foliage. On the flip side, there’s often a bit of despair as we notice the subtle descent of the year. The days come slower, stick around less and less, and there’s only more dark and cold coming.

It’s no wonder the thoughts and feelings that come with Fall etch vivid pictures in our mind. For me, the image of the last hot rays of sun coming through the trees in sharp directions, laying kaleidoscopes on the colored ground, is one of the most jarring memories of my year. We make some strong associations during this season, trying to grip those last bits of light with a firm hold, remembering those features as if becoming blind in some sort of permanent winter night.

So if we all know the Fall for certain strong images, it seems quite natural for a distinct kind of music to be associated with this time of year as well. Certainly everyone has their favorite Fall soundtracks, which I like to try to place into a couple categories. The first is the brooding and melancholy. For me this is less about one’s observation of the turning seasons and vastly changing landscape, and more of a need for self-reflection. Artists like Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, and Simon & Garfunkel represent the sort of hoodie-wearing, leaf-trudging sound that a lot of people like to associate with the Fall. It’s more an expression of inner turmoil and sense of loss drawn from the slow tragedy that is the turn of summer into winter. Others prefer to stomp the leaves rather than trudge, and for those people needing emo-punk self-reflection with a dash of the latent frustration, they turn to artists like The Get-Up Kids, American Football, and Dashboard Confessional.

I place myself firmly in a second category- the outward observers. Instead of holing myself up in a dark room, shutters closed, brooding under incense, I like to take some good long walks rejoicing in the last collapsing rays. After all, this is a photogenic time of year, where sharp contrasts between shadow and light make amazing photos. I don’t even have to mention the colors. So I’ve discovered that one of my favorite things to do this time of year is put in my headphones and walk around listening to a handful of albums that perfectly sync with the landscape and “mood lighting”.

I’m scared of losing it….we all are. Indeed, last week was windy- one of those late Fall weeks that are distinctly windy, as if eager to viciously rip the last leaves off the trees. It feels a bit like the calling of “Fatality” in Mortal Kombat – the death knell for color. This is, after all, the Sun’s yearly foray into dark drama. With time running out I am making that last hastened attempt to listen to the best representations of the Fall, specifically the late Fall, because we all know there are those confused early Fall weeks made of strings of bastard summer days. Therefore, I found it quite natural to put a list together of my favorite late Fall albums. And strangely enough, a lot of the album and song titles, along with the graphics and band imagery, seem to make gestures toward this time of year. Perhaps the decision was subconscious, or fully intentional, but either way the band’s style is often very appropriate for the Fall. So without further adieu, I start my countdown of the Top 12 Best Fall Records.

12. THE APPLESEED CAST – LOW LEVEL OWL VOL. 1 + 2 (2001)

It’s a well known fact that the minor chords, especially when finger-picked or played in chord progressions, yield some of the most melancholy sounds. Place in the hands of a band that really enjoys guitar delay and you get a pretty epic album like Low Level Owl. The album is chalked full of six minute songs that build using guitar sounds with a distinct quality reminiscent of Fall. I think it’s the way the guitars are often layered with distortion, but of two different tones. There is the backing guitar that has the crunch of post-grunge (much like Sunny Day Real Estate), and then there is the second guitar, the lead, that has the lilting echo made famous by shoegaze bands like The Verve and Slowdive. This second guitar is the one brimming with a kind of winsome energy made more rejoiceful by the guitar delays. Every song feels a bit like the sun trying to punch through the clouds early in an autumn day. The wind is swirling, the leaves flying, and this entire two-part album feels right at home in the gauzy light that often only comes this time of year. This band hails from Lawrence, Kansas, a heartland band flying under the radar, yet no stranger to stunning Fall weather, as I well know spending my early 20’s just a stone’s-throw away in Manhattan, Kansas.

 

11. BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB –  FLAWS (2010)

This group of Londoners followed-up their amazing debut album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose (2009), in a very unexpected way. Whereas their first album was the favorite of post-punk and indie rock fans alike, the second one seemed to evade all the raucous and go straight for the plaintive acoustic sounds that most bands aren’t bold enough to even consider exploring until their fourth or fifth album. The identity-shift caught many off guard, and angered many, yet if you have half a heart and a level of comfort treating your melancholy side, this is a fantastic album. Although I certainly could have placed many acoustic/folk albums (Kings of Convenience, Iron & Wine, etc.) on a list of great Fall albums since it is a sound that resonates well with the softer and subdued tones of Autumn, I think what makes this one even better in the Fall setting is the vocals. Jack Steadman’s voice quivers and shakes, and can feel both hollow and full of color all at once, which is something uncannily reminiscent of this season.

10. PAPERCUTS – CAN’T GO BACK (2007)

Taken as a single song, the Papercuts are good. Take every song counted together as a sum of it’s parts, and you have a great Fall record. The vocals are small and eek out like the rays of light squeezing between a dense thicket of brush, yet it gets through in one form or the other. This album isn’t really about listening to the words- it’s really about the overall mood and feeling. There are so many songs on this album, from “Outside Looking In” to “Unavailable” that just feel so perfect for a good walk down a leafy sidewalk. It’s that semi-charming form of indie folk that borrows a lot from the masters like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel, yet puts the indie back into the folk with the faintly shimmering vocals and subtle nuances. Another San Francisco band that sounds a lot like the Papercuts is Foxygen, which is becoming another good friend of my Fall playlist.

9. tallest man on earth – there’s no leaving now (2012)

Saras Per Kristian Matsson is Swedish, but you wouldn’t know it from the sound, which comes off as authentically American. The folk of the early 60’s shines through in most of his work, which is all excellent, from Shallow Grave (2008) to The Wild Hunt (2010) to this one, There’s No Leaving Now (2012). The primary difference between this album and the other earlier two, which can at times bleed together, is the sense of nostalgia I get listening to the songs strung together as a complete album. Nostalgia for what has just happened, not just the distant past, is the strange sensation I get pairing the sound with Matsson’s words. “Revelation Blues” uses that same brisk finger-picking Matsson is known for, with a stinging clarion call from the guitar that also makes effective use of the delayed guitar sound. I’m sensing a theme here. I could’ve picked a handful of other songs on this album as strong examples of the Fall sound, yet this one showcases a uniquely ebullient use of the electrified guitar that you don’t hear as much on his others.

8. wilco – yankee hotel foxtrot (2001)

I tried really hard to find another Wilco album that screams flannel in the Fall, but I couldn’t find one as complete as this one. Yes, it’s a bit trite and expected to go with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot whenever picking a Wilco album, but know I made every possible attempt to turn away from it. I tried to convince myself that it was Sky Blue Sky or A Ghost is Born, but when you consider the cohesion of an album, a singular thread or distinct sound tying the whole thing together, those albums are ultimately unsuccessful. Wilco is a great band, a Chicago contingent that has captured the semblance of hope in the grey bleakness that is the near normal most of the time in Chicago. However, one of my frustrations with Wilco is the way they throw a couple of odd songs into most albums, ultimately breaking the flow. Take the song “Shake It Off” on Sky Blue Sky; I was just about to put that album on the list after being whisked away by “Impossible Germany” and “Sky Blue Sky”, but was rudely interrupted by that disjointed song. A change of pace sometimes works, yet rarely, in my opinion, on a Wilco album. The reason Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has always been deemed their strongest is not only the bold experimentation and carefully crafted songs, but also the way the despair and isolation of an impending winter come slowly sidling by the periphery of every song. This is one of several elements of the album that are pervasive and serve as common threads binding the album together.

7. GRIZZLY BEAR – YELLOW HOUSE (2006)

Just look at that album cover. Now tell me that doesn’t just confidently whisper “Fall record”. Our Autumn season has always been kind to the indie folk genre, for understandable reasons. This one leans more towards the cozy bedroom introspection, yet still has enough brimming energy to suggest that maybe you sit in your window sill and look out at the sky while listening. There’s always been a curious maturity in Grizzly Bear’s work. They are confident in the direction of their music and don’t seem to hesitate to imbue an album with a penchant style and pervasive atmosphere- even if some would call it sleepy folk missing the spark. For all the gloom and hushed hues running along the lo-fi backbone of Yellow House, it’s still one of my favorite albums for rejoicing in the changing leaves and lingering strides of the sun.

6. yo la tengo – AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE-OUT (2000)

Trying to listen to a song like “Our Way to Fall” without imagining yourself walking slow motion under a canopy of falling leaves is nearly impossible. There’s something about the slow cadence and faintly glistening swagger of this song that conjures strong Autumn imagery. In another scenario I’m making a “Leaf Angel” in a pile of red and yellows, and in another one I’m walking up to my house in the depths of twilight, with just the faintest mark of light in the west….oh wait, that’s the album cover. Nevertheless, much like Wilco I could’ve gone with several other Yo La Tengo albums. They have a song on I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997) called “Autumn Sweater”, for example, so how perfect is that? I could’ve gone with Painful (1993) or Summer Sun (2003) and probably still been safe. They will be a perennial favorite on my Fall soundtrack. Here’s another good one, por ejemplo:

Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House, from AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE-OUT (2000)

5. VAN MORRISON – ASTRAL WEEKS (1968) 

It still astounds me that Van Morrison made this album back in 1968. It’s a magical album with a timelessly gorgeous sound, and hauntingly ambiguous meaning. It all seems groundbreaking still to this day. Even the name of the album, Astral Weeks, is so enigmatically beautiful that just telling myself I’m going to listen to an album called Astral Weeks, front to back, gives me the slightest thrill. Never has an album felt more knit from the same cloth, born of the same blood, gifted with the same spirit, or recorded in one single brilliant session than this one. It also happens to feel perfectly crafted for the Autumn, because even if it does feel timeless and ahead of it’s time still to this day, it still holds that quality of feeling temporal and fleeting. The short length of the album mimics the shortness of a Fall day, and makes it’s magisterial effect all the more potent in it’s brevity.

4. NICK DRAKE – bryter layter (1971) 

I could’ve gone with a lot of different songs from this album, from “Fly”, or my personal favorite, “Poor Boy”, but this one was just speaking to me. Yes it was used in Garden State but let’s ignore that fact and go right into comparing this album to the aforementioned Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.  It’s also a shorter album, with a certain quality of hushed beauty and sparseness that belongs in the waning light of an Autumn afternoon. At times it can be sad and sombre, yet at other times it shows those flashes of brightness and sunshine promise. The album mimics the movement of the low lying sun in the sky: weaving  between buildings and trees in the furtive way it does in the Fall, leaving us in shadows and then for a brief time in a bit of cherished light.

 

3. the clientele – suburban light (2000)

This is unequivocally my favorite “Fall song”. “We Could Walk Together” is winsome, charming, nostalgic, and nearly heartbreaking all at once. The Clientele make albums tailored to the knitted sweater strolls and I frankly don’t know how they managed to capture an aesthetic and accompanying season so well. Suburban Light is an earlier album from this band, a British band (the accent is all too apparent in the singing) that happen to be still alive and kicking these days. They just released their eighth full-length, Music for the Age of Miracles, earlier this year. This album has that nascent idealism clearly showcased by bands just starting off, yet you could pick any of their eight albums and quickly discover how the sound beckons to be played when the colors change. I have found this to be the album with their purest expression of this unique sound, however all of their work is great.

2. COTTON JONES – PARANOID COCOON (2009)

Certain people may roll their eyes, because they know that I love this unknown band and sing their praises very often, but I can’t help it, whether it’s a twilight summer’s day or late in the Fall, I’ve got to say that this band is perfect late in the day when the sun is low and the world quiets down just a bit. This will always be my dark horse band. Take a listen and tell me it doesn’t have that perfect aesthetic for this time of year.

1. WHITNEY – LIGHT UPON THE LAKE (2016) 

The new darlings of soft rock got this whole conversation rolling last year. I was talking with a friend about the unique aesthetic of this band and the perfect setting for listening, and we came up with Autumn. Come on, “Golden Days” has to mean a day walking hand in hand with that special someone, rejoicing in the golden foliage and gleaming light of the Fall day. The way that slide guitar bends and waivers like a delicate ray of light is flawless expression of this time of year. This entire album is my favorite to play nowadays; it’s far more bright and upbeat than most of my favorite albums, which explains why I like it just slightly more than the others. After all, I always want hope, and I will always want a positive spin on the sounds that make me nostalgic. I want to hold onto the happy thoughts, the warm feelings, and Whitney’s Light Upon the Lake is the best album to represent a need that very few albums can provide.

Well, there you have it. Let me know what makes your list of Best Fall Albums (it doesn’t have to be a distinction between early or late Fall). I’m always looking forward to hearing about other people’s favorite albums, and Top 10 lists!