I love early autumn. I’m pretty unashamed about that (despite very much falling into that white girl “I love fall” thing – I was here first). There’s just this tiny bit of summer left right before we’re stuck with long months of miserable weather. Granted every time I think Britain is about to give us a taste of that autumn weather, it quickly changes its fickle mind and hands us another heat wave. But anyway, I’ll just ignore the ridiculous island weather.

I’m very much in the school of thought that my tastes in music change with the season. Just like the type of clothes I have to wear or the kinds of films in the cinema and the books I choose to read. There’s those ~~~fall vibez~~ ya know and I’m always a sucker for them.

Each early September brings with it a renewed sense that I’m going to do something great with the coming year. Despite the fact that I haven’t had a “first day of school” in two years now, I still mark the beginning of each year as the school year, and not the 1st of January. There’s always something a bit uplifting about this time of year. A genuine sense that the cool air will bring with it some great things.

And this feeling, especially that I’m no longer in Wisconsin (which is really home to a spectacular show every fall), escapes me a bit more every year I live in England. But thanks to Ms Aretha Franklin’s “Say a Little Prayer,” that mood instantly hit me. A bit of a breezy, loving, warm song that led to my immediate creation of a new fall playlist. I like to curate a number of songs that appeal to me over the season. It’s always interesting to compare what I was into each year and to see what remains a constant.

And I’ll give you a hint: it’s always Vince Guaraldi.

And mixes aren’t the only thing that I like at this time of year. As far as full albums go, I like to include my favourites and the new:

• Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete and Friends by Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete
• Aretha Now by Aretha Franklin
• Dead Poet’s Society OST by Maurice Jarre
• On Seven Winds by Kornog

But the most important thing is that as soon as we get September out of the way, October is here and the real fun begins.