Sweater Weather Reverie

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Autumn music should feel like a warm sweater: a little wistful, never cold. This tape was made for an autumn afternoon of falling leaves, a warm jumper and a touch of nostalgia, so it leans on acoustic guitars, soft voices and close harmonies. It's music for looking back fondly rather than sadly.

It opens with three classics from around 1970. Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer" is a worn-in story song with a wordless chorus everyone knows, Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" is a conversation between two generations, with Stevens singing both parts, and Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" is just his voice, his guitar and a brief piano line. Then newer folk takes over: Fleet Foxes' "White Winter Hymnal" is sung as a round of swirling harmonies, First Aid Kit's "Emmylou" is a love song built on the names of old country duets, and The Paper Kites' "Bloom" is slow and dreamy.

The middle is gentle and a little bittersweet. Beirut's "Elephant Gun" is a waltz of ukulele and brass, and Sufjan Stevens' "Futile Devices" is quiet and intimate. Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" brings slide guitar and Hope Sandoval's slow, hazy voice, and Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why" is warm and unhurried, for the evenings that come earlier each week. Gregory Alan Isakov's "Big Black Car" aches quietly, and The Head and the Heart's "Rivers and Roads" ends the tape by building from a quiet start to voices joining together, nostalgic but hopeful.

Newer folk sits next to the classics, so the tape moves from the seventies through the nineties to the 2010s without the mood changing. Good for a walk through the leaves, a slow afternoon indoors, or the first fire of the year. Open it as a YouTube playlist and let it run while the light goes. If you want something cosier still, make a tape for a winter evening at home.