Does music have a season?

[Fiery]

Do you listen to anything that sounds like a particular season to you? Do an album's characteristics match those of summer, winter, spring or fall? Is a song forever embedded in your mind as belonging to a certain time of the year because that's when you first heard it, or because there's a correlating story behind it?

(Please limit your response. Try not to post 100 things all at once. It makes sharing/relating to the other posts daunting when you're bogging up the thread with an ominous 15 album suggestion. Just post more than once.)

Daughter Darling's Sweet Shadows album sounds like the epitome of every fall I've experienced since I began to remember them.



The opening track, in particular. Natalie Walker's voice wafts like smoke over the entire album. It's brooding, but not enough to match the early twilight and dreary gray of winter. Every time I listen to it I get an image of crisp air on a slightly overcast fall afternoon, taking a walk down the street I used to live on in Ohio, remembering that it was chilly enough to wear a coat and a hat, and I had my hands shoved in my pockets while was playing, and I could smell burning leaves. The street was vacated because people were starting to turn in more since the summer heat had gone.

[3pleT]

Yes and no.

Sure, some music can intentionally be made to represent a certain season, time of day, or whatever (for some reason, I even see music in colors, but let's ignore that fact for now). Some instruments and melodies have the sound that can cause a limited set of emotions and it's, therefore, easy to pick the right combination for a time of year. However, no matter how much you want to, you can't identify, for example, any of Diamanda Galás' music with any time of year; all you know is that you're in a very dark and spooky place listening to a voice of what may very well be a reincarnation of Aleister Crowley and that you love every second of it and that's about it. Also, pretty much every d'n'b song that isn't liquid funk is seasonless.

Now, the instruments of the violin family usually make the fall/winter-like atmosphere (cold, loneliness, sorrow,...), and that's why the songs with them as the primary instruments are not very happy. Piano is usually (again, not always) the winter instrument. That's why the two are the ideal candidates for Daughter Darling's music, cause it's obvious that this was the atmosphere they were trying to create.

[Fiery]

Yes and no.

Sure, some music can intentionally be made to represent a certain season, time of day, or whatever (for some reason, I even see music in colors, but let's ignore that fact for now). Some instruments and melodies have the sound that can cause a limited set of emotions and it's, therefore, easy to pick the right combination for a time of year. However, no matter how much you want to, you can't identify, for example, any of Diamanda Galás' music with any time of year; all you know is that you're in a very dark and spooky place listening to a voice of what may very well be a reincarnation of Aleister Crowley and that you love every second of it and that's about it. Also, pretty much every d'n'b song that isn't liquid funk is seasonless.

Now, the instruments of the violin family usually make the fall/winter-like atmosphere (cold, loneliness, sorrow,...), and that's why the songs with them as the primary instruments are not very happy. Piano is usually (again, not always) the winter instrument. That's why the two are the ideal candidates for Daughter Darling's music, cause it's obvious that this was the atmosphere they were trying to create.

It's true that some music is seasonless. I'll definitely agree with that. Maybe the thread title was a little misleading, but I was asking if there was anything you associated with a particular season, or if you have any stories about some of your favorite songs that take place in a certain setting.

If you contemplate this topic as a whole, there are TONS of things you could say. But I was trying to make a thread that's a bit more personal than "What's your favorite blah blah blah" by trying to pull something specific out of the poster without making it too broad.

[Gjallarhorn]

Something that always comes to mind is Asian Kung-Fu Generation's album Fanclub. It is a pure winter album.

Everything is played clean and sharp, in such a way that it is almost haunting. There's lot of subtle ringing out from the guitars, and the drums play a quick rhythm throughout easily making them the centerpiece of the album. But hanging over all this is the sense of hopelessness that the album envokes, which is not only obvious through the lyrics, vocals, and song titles, but simply in the instrumentality itself.


I believe any of Ellegarden's albums, with the exception of Eleven Firecrackers, can easily be identified as summer albums, each talking discussion trivial day-to-day things, social interaction, and having fun and making the best of things in general.

Any early album from OYA is distinctively an autumn album, both through sound and lyrics. Their general lyrics focus on hopelessness and failure, yet taking it in stride, while the music is subtle but quick, with short but powerful basslines weaving through each song. Their later EPs, しらない合図しらせる子 (screw it, too lazy to romanize it), and Pinhole were spring albums, which stand in contrast to their earlier works.

[Junior]

I can't listen to Animal Collective any time of the year other than summer.

[Avasion]

yup most of my music is more like the spring though i am getting more music for other seasons.

[Diocletian]

The only album that I associate with any season is Matt and Kim's Grand to summer. It seems that every time I hear it, I find myself sitting on my front lawn and kicking up the CD player to a louder volume. I at time associate it with fall when I see the cover. The cover gives me a slight chill when I see it. I believe it's due to the tree without leaves.

[3pleT]

I can't listen to Animal Collective any time of the year other than summer.

Feels, Sung Tongs and Campfire Songs, maybe, but the other albums are much different if you ask me.
Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is some weird (AC, go figure) kind of noise pop that I wouldn't exactly attach to any season; it has elements of all of them, though I would attach it to the night.
Strawberry Jam is probably their most conventional album, half of which is Freak Folk/Folk Rock (a la Sung Tongs), but the rest feels more like the combination of Spirit They're Gone with some random alt rock, which can by no means remind you of summer.
Merriweather Post Pavilion sounds like some kind of psy-pop and it's too electronic, so to speak, to remind me of summer.

The actual season albums would be:
Spring: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca, half of Manu Chao discography
Summer: Lily Allen - Alright, Still, the other half of Manu Chao discography
Fall: Chumbawamba - Singsong and a Scrap, Dark Globe - Nostalgia for the Future, Nas - Illmatic
Winter: Blu Mar Ten - Black Water, Dessa - False Hopes EP

...and that's off the top of my mind.

[Cobra Commander]

Agalloch seems perfectly suited to cold snowy winters.

Cobalt's Eater of Birds and Gin remind me of autumn. The music is cold, yet violent and semi-controlled. It makes me think of leaves falling and things dying. It's also strangely soothing, at least for me.

Both artists are in the black metal genre, but Agalloch is much more instrumental than anything. Cobalt is harsh, like a black metal Tool.

[miniPhil]

Something that always comes to mind is Asian Kung-Fu Generation's album Fanclub. It is a pure winter album.

I would have put it down as more of an autumn album.

Agalloch seems perfectly suited to cold snowy winters.

Now this I agree 100% with. 'Ashes Against the Grain' is the perfect winter album. I love it to bits.

As for myself I don't normally attribute music with seasons or events although there are exceptions. Around halloween 'Nox Arcana' and 'Midnight Syndicate' are generally put on repeat. And 'Terracotta and Fugue', but that's obvious.

'Reel Big Fish' tend to get played during spring and summer and 'Sigur Rós' during autumn or winter. But it can all change depending on the mood I'm in

[Fiery]

@ Miniphil (too lazy to quote)

I really like listening to Sigor Ros in the late summer, during the last few days I have before fall hits.

[Seta Souji]

Hmmm I only noticed I listen to a lot of christmas songs during winter. Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas is the best cover imo.

During fall I sometimes listen to Mae, Cassino, or acoustic bands.

[daft]

Winter - Envy's Insomniac Doze
Spring - Melt-Banana's Cell-Scape
Summer - Scooter's We Bring The Noise!
Fall - Dream Theater's Scenes From A Memory

I know, I'm rather predictable. =/

[Chaux]

Vivaldi, The four seasons..
Kidding XD -_-

I don't think there is music that i allude to with seasons, but more like temperature, as in music you listen to on cold days..
XP

[copycat.killer]

Winter - Underneath the Stars(Cure)
Fall - Burn(Cure)
Spring - Only One(Cure)
Summer - Love Cats, Hungry Ghost (Cure)
As you can see I'm a 'The Cure' freak. kill me!

[*Tsuki*]

yes!
Summer Days by Do As Infinity makes me want to listen to listen to it during the winter. The lyrics go on about how crappy summer can be, and it makes me appreciate winter. XD