As the year slows down after the hustle of summer and the comforting chill of autumn takes hold, there’s nothing better than winding down and relaxing with your favorite music. With an ever-expanding landscape of music genres and unique artists, you’ll always have new artists to discover and enjoy.
Here are my top-five recommendations for your autumn playlist: The Other Side of Hell Is a Heaven So Delicate is a five-track EP by Heddy Edwards, featuring a specialized blend of genres ranging from alt-rock, shoegaze, and chamber pop, creating a more unique sound than many alt-rock artists offer today. Additionally, Edwards’ lyricism explores themes of self-discovery, mental health struggles, and grief, wrapping each song in emotional vulnerability and a nostalgic 90s aesthetic.
“The other side of town” dives into exclusion and belonging with hauntingly elegant vocals, while “Black tunnel” explores isolation, depression, and emotional release, with its chorus built on strummed guitars and driving drums.
Finally, “Dreamcast” closes out the EP with a bright, irresistibly engaging melody amongst the themes of anxiety and perseverance. Charm, Clairo’s third studio album, blends jazz, soul, and psychedelic folk. Clairo’s soft vocals accentuate the album’s theme of quiet intimacy and match the peaceful calm of autumn.
The songs range from beautiful piano melodies like “Slow Dance” and “Terrapin” to upbeat instrumentals in “Add Up My Love” and “Sexy to Someone.” Charm focuses on the feeling you get from spending time with someone you love, and the memories that tiny acts of appreciation and intimacy leave lingering in your mind, perfect for the autumn season. True to the title, Charm’s track list will leave you feeling charmed.
How to Count to Five from the Midwest-style emo band Holidays in United States, based in Brooklyn, NY, is an emotionally energetic album about youthful frustration, friendship, and community. Many songs delve into feelings of angst and disappointment from a young-adult perspective, but keep an energetic sense of collectiveness, letting listeners relate to those feelings.“Christopher Jazz” and “Edward vs. Jacob vs. Simon” express this best, turning what can feel like a lonely emotion of anger and disappointment into a collective release, like screaming your frustrations to a crowd that understands exactly how you feel. This sense of community is strengthened by chorus-like shouts and layered vocals, like those in “Girl Problems” and “Sybau.”
If you haven’t listened to Midwest-emo before, like me, How to Count to Five is a great place to start. Vagrant, Kiaura Rose’s seven-track debut album, is a beautifully composed collection of songs exploring grief, heartbreak, trauma, and self-reflection. Reminiscent of 90s indie/alternative rock, Vagrant features powerful vocals and unique instrumentals that are unlike any artist you’ve heard.
The opening song “Aftermath” introduces listeners to the emotional lyricism of the album, featuring ethereally soft vocals and a stunning violin performance in the outro, while songs like “Needy” and “Old Wood, New Floors” dive into insecurity, intrusive thoughts, and feeling disconnected from your past self over time.
The album’s exploration of real-world struggles faced by everyday people makes it feel relatable, especially in “Clocking Out,” my personal favorite track on the album. Finally, the title track “Vagrant” brings the album to a striking close with an energetic-yet-emotional melody that describes the struggles of isolation and self-destructive patterns in difficult times.
For every autumn emotion, Vagrant has the perfect song for whatever you’re feeling. Bewitched, Laufey’s second studio album, blends jazz and pop into a whimsical, nostalgic, melancholic sound. With its beautiful piano arrangements, orchestral instrumentals, and immaculate vocals, Bewitched is a ballad for the hopeless romantic.
Some songs focus on the warm, fluttery, enchanting aspects of love, such as “Lovesick,” “From the Start,” and the title track “Bewitched.” Other songs describe the emotional lows of heartbreak, stagnant relationships, and the pain of moving on, such as “California and Me,” “Second Best,” and “Promise.”
Paired with the deluxe album, Bewitched: The Goddess Edition, the album’s calming nature is perfect for every autumn moment, whether you’re strolling through the sunlit campus as colorful leaves fall overhead or spending time with your loved ones in the quiet comfort of home. Just as Laufey herself described it, Bewitched is “a love album, whether it be a love towards a friend, a lover, or life.”
