With Michaelmas dawns a new season of music; the leaves are finally falling, the academic year is beginning, and it’s about time for a good old-fashioned wallow. Whether you’re a fresher looking for songs to soundtrack your move, or a returning Cantab mooching around shops term starts, the Music Team have got you covered with a selection of autumnal tracks. So stick your headphones on, confront the sea of wool trench coats, trudge down the rain slick cobbles, and romanticise all hell out of your first (or second… or third) Michaelmas.

Daisy: An autumntime tune for me comes in the form of Cocteau Twins’ ‘Crushed,’ a song I discovered in the summer before first year. I had watched all of Gregg Araki’s movies and was greeted in Cambridge by the small heaven of Blue Screen Soc (R.I.P., but get ready for a potential resurrection in Clare’s new Film Society) who played my favourite Nowhere (1996) in their first screening of the term. Spacey and mesmerising, with those cold nights drawing in, ‘Crushed’ envelopes you with familiar swirling guitars. But is Liz Fraser speaking in the alien tones of your supervisor explaining Hegel to you? Who knows.

Seun: Babymorroco’s ‘I wish you would make it easy’ captures the liminal feeling of being caught between one mood and the next. Sampling ‘West End Girls’ by Pet Shop Boys, a song itself that evokes urban drifting and the ambiguities of modern life. The rework of that sample into something hazier and more introspective creates a soundscape that feels both familiar and dislocated that could be mirroring the in between spaces of student life. The song’s lyrics yearn for the clarity and might resonate with anyone navigating the uncertainty of a new term.

Caitlin: Autumn doesn’t have to mean slowing down! The punchy kick-drum beat of Riveira Bailey’s ‘This Weekend’s Trainwreck’ has helped me keep pace on many a chilly morning powerwalk to Sidge. Bailey’s lyrics especially spoke to me and my anxieties as a fresher, thrown into new academic and personal responsibility in what is already a challenging season. Nevertheless, this song packs motivation and drive in amidst the chaos, a dichotomy that I now relish. Also, ’Susie Save Your Love’ by Allie X and Mitski. There’s nothing like a bass-heavy ballad to warm the soul. Combine that with an ethereal pairing of two of the finest vocalists in alternative pop and an elusive, loosely sapphic storyline and I’m sold.

“The audio equivalent of a photograph that begins to yellow and curl at the edges, heavy with memories”

Francis: PJ Harvey’s whole album (This is Desire) is so incredibly autumnal to me. It’s mystical, ghostly, harrowing, and each whispering lyric of Harvey’s mythical storytelling sends a shiver down the spine. That said, it’s not short on beauty either: the album is fraught with delicate pastoral imagery and female beauty. In ‘The Wind’, Harvey evokes the audio equivalent of a photograph that begins to yellow and curl at the edges, heavy with memories. And Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’: this cinematic song drips with tension at each orchestral blowout. With a silky-smooth, sleuth-like bassline, it’s got that teenage edge of ‘cool’, reinforced by Cocker’s yowling voice and witty lyrics, whilst giving you the hit of dirtiness that you need on your morning walk, kicking up the leaves as you go.

Millie: Andrew Cushin’s anthemic song ‘Waiting for the Rain’ evokes the warmth of a cosy fire on an autumnal evening. As is typical for the masterful Geordie songwriter, the catchy lyrics disguise a deeply personal struggle. It is a particular treat in Cushin’s live performances, although rather patronising when it is raining at a festival. One of Yorkshire’s all-time greatest bands King No One celebrate perhaps the most stereotypical face of northern culture in ‘Manchester Rain’. But despite the misery of the drizzle, King No One takes pride in the cheery friendliness of the people of Manchester. This overlooked gem has every potential for a hit and showcases the fresh approach to music that typifies the King No One community.

“Nick Drake wrote his song ‘River Man’ during his time as a Cambridge student”

Jake: I found out in the course of researching this that Nick Drake wrote his song ‘River Man’ during his time as a Cambridge student, and so actually had the sombre waters of the autumn and winter Cam on his mind as he wrote the haunting melodies about the “river man” and “the way his river flows”. I can think of no better soundtrack to the darkening of the days and the fall of browning leaves onto the river than this melancholic folk classic. For a second pick, the Nirvana b-side ‘Marigold’ is one I associate closely with my first term at Cambridge as a fresher, and I think, as an uncharacteristically mellow and lo-fi release from a group most known for their high energy and frenzy, is a good representation of the general slowing down of life which seems to accompany the onset of winter.

Harmony: ‘For Sure’ by American Football. The ultimate summer ending song.

Next time you’re walking to class on a cold, misty morning… consult these songs! Scan the QR to listen to the Music Team’s picks and more.