People don’t give autumn the recognition it deserves.
Spring is the season of life and hope and new beginnings. Summer is the show-off, with its long days, beaches, and sunscreen-filled vacations. Winter is objectively terrible, but because we don’t want it to feel bad about itself we gave it all our best holidays. It’s amazing how a bit of gift-giving and eggnog can make people willing to look past the months of cold and drudgery.
Autumn is the forgotten middle child of the seasons.
And hey: I’m as guilty as anyone of neglecting the fall. As of this writing, this blog has 11 songs tagged “summer,” 6 tagged “spring,” 13 tagged “winter,” and (not including this one) only one tagged “fall”.
So let’s appreciate autumn, shall we?
Maybe we don’t pay fall much attention because it’s so brief. At my latitude, at least, it barely lasts a month. You notice a leaf that seems a bit off-colour, and before you can say “pumpkin spice” there’s a half-foot of snow on the ground. But that one month is truly glorious.
A good fall day is beautiful for its rarity. When the temperature is just a bit below room temperature, with just a hint of a cool breeze, the colours seem sharper somehow. That summer haze is gone, and everything appears to be in higher resolution. Just briefly. A walk on a perfect fall day simply can’t be matched.
Danish composer Jeppe Dengsø, who goes by the stagename Båd, says this about his 2021 song “Oktober” – ”‘Oktober’ is my humble declaration of love to Autumn and the nostalgic sensation it contains. Sad but hopeful, bittersweet and intangible. I hope it can act as a soundtrack for people’s Autumn; that they’ll listen to it on a rainy Autumn-walk.”
Other than the rainy part, I couldn’t agree more.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Rather than using a conventionally calming chord progression (like a I-IV for example) it spends much of its time shifting from I to II. This gives it an unexpected lift, like a jolt of cool autumn air.
2. Rather than lulling you to sleep with a single, plodding tempo, it switches speeds and keeps you guessing.
3. It doesn’t end as much as transform; the last 30 seconds sound like the beginning of a new song, very much unrelated to where the track started.
Recommended listening activity:
Taking a really close look at a leaf.