The time between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice were, as always, filled with a massive variety pack of music that jumps across time, space, genre, and language. I sit with an extensive playlist of songs for three months, but there are always a few that just stick and become constant repeats. Here are my top 20 songs from the Autumn Equinox until the Solstice, in no particular order.

Depeche Mode – Sacred

There is something about Depeche Mode’s tackling of religious imagery and motifs that actually heals my religious trauma, and Sacred is one of the best examples of this. Each time I listen, it sends chills up my spine and it feels like I’m hearing it again for the first time. Its lyrics are simple, but powerful, and the song feels like, to me, what I was told church hymns are supposed to feel like.

U škripcu – Siđi do reke

I’m not too certain where I originally came across this song, but it’s existed in my masterlist of songs from the former Yugoslav nations and their present counterparts. It’s a really fantastic example of early 80s New Wave and has this gentleness about it that I really love. The singer has such a rich tone to their voice, which flows like water between each note.

Loathe, Teenage Wrist – Is It Really You?

This autumn, I returned once again to this song. I can’t exactly explain why, but this song seems to creep in and integrate itself again and again into my listening habits. It’s shoegaze and dream pop mixed into this base of alternative metal, and it’s a very well-executed blend of the genres.

Crvena Jabuka – Minka

Once again, Crvena Jabuka makes an appearance in my rotations. This time, their appearance is one of their more contemporary tracks. This 2016 release quickly became quite the earworm – the strings in this song are bright and incredibly memorable. I often find myself whistling the strings’ melody or the vocal melody while I’m working.

Persephone – Astronaut Soft Spot

I interviewed Persephone not all that long ago, and I’ve had their debut single on repeat since it came out. The lyrics are incredibly fun, with mentions of lunar fashions and cowboys who love Jack just a little too much. It’s a mainstay “car jam” for me – I play it just about any time I’m driving, and all my friends who sit in my car now have Astronaut Soft Spot memorized.

Sleep Token – Damocles

I saw Sleep Token in concert and heard Damocles live back in October. Hearing it live cemented Damocles as one of my favorite Sleep Token tracks – the lyrics are beautiful and create beautiful visuals in their descriptions, the piano is melodic and draws you in, and the breakdown before the second chorus is powerful.

Scorn – Exodus

I came across Scorn way back in January, but for some reason I found myself thinking of the album this song is from very often. Exodus includes so many incredibly unexpected elements in its composition, most notably the inclusion of the didgeridoo. There’s also this sort-of shaking motif throughout the track – I honestly can’t identify what makes the metallic shake noise, though I would really love to know what it is.

Consecration – Delirijum

One of the things I love most about Consecration, their more recent releases especially, is how they construct the layers of instruments and vocals on their songs. This song is one of my favorites by them; the overlapping guitar melodies, the pummeling breakdown, the groovy bass, the ethereal vocalizations, and the haunting harmonies come together as this masterful and intricate opus. It’s nearly 14 minutes of exalted musicality and sonic mastery.

Jet – Look What You’ve Done

I’m taking it back to my early childhood with this one. This ballad snuck back into my conscious for reasons unknown to me back in early October, becoming a favorite of mine to play in the car while sitting through traffic on rainy drives. This song feels like it’s from a seasoned artist or band, but it’s actually off Jet’s debut album!

Magdalena Bay – Woww

Speaking of songs to play while driving through traffic, Magdalena Bay’s “Woww” really encapsulated my mood while stuck in rainy day traffic in the Bay Area. The chorus of “Wow, I hate you / Get out my face / With your stupid face / Wow, don’t wait to / Get out my place / With your stupid face” really sums up my feelings of being stuck behind people in traffic who can’t drive all the sudden, due to a little rain. The kitschy, bubblegummy instrumentals really soften the blow of the driver-induced frustrations I felt.

Yaerin Baek – MIRROR

This uptempo, funky tune really came as a surprise to me upon my first listen. I knew of Yaerin Baek through one of her previous albums, Every Letter I Sent You., which leaned more R&B and Pop. I thoroughly enjoyed the bass and horns on this track, as well as how she built and released tension throughout the track. This was a favorite song of mine for my early-morning commutes to work.

Depeche Mode – Monument

I don’t know if it was the super kitschy synthesizer beat or the “wahwahwahwahwahwahwahwahWAHWAH” ditty in the middle of the track, but this song is so addictive. The fun synths and melodies definitely disguise the more serious tone of the lyrics – they tell you to reflect on how you’ve built yourself, or perhaps they tell you to reflect on the monuments you build to exalt others. It’s an interesting dichotomy created out of this jaunty tune.

Depeche Mode – Judas

“Judas” is yet another entry from Depeche Mode, and it is also another Depeche Mode song that heals something within me. From their aptly-named album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, “Judas” uses religious allegory and imagery to question how we navigate commitment, love, and sacrifice. Beyond Martin Gore’s beautiful and poignant lyrics, the instrumentals on “Judas” are beautiful – the most unexpected instrument, the Uilleann pipes, really create a beautiful, atmospheric foundation for the song to build on.

bôa – Get There

Most people know bôa from their song, “Duvet”, that had a bit of a renaissance online a few years ago. I love “Duvet” as much as the next person, but I really love “Get There”. I love the cadence and rhythm in the chorus. The melodic chorus is so pleasing on the ear – Jasmine Rodgers’ vocals are stunning, and the accompanying guitar melody feels dreamy and metallic in the best kind of way.  

Consecration – Strava letnje noći

This is my absolute favorite song by Consecration. It’s the best example of their mastery in how to build the layers of vocals and instrumentals into this incredible “wall of sound” that just hits you – sometimes little by little, and sometimes all at once. The best way I can describe this song is as an ascension; I feel like I reach heaven each time I hear it. Ethereal, choral-like vocals built on top of a sonic labyrinth of gentle piano, melodic acoustic guitars, floaty synths, rich-toned bass, resonant electric guitars, and grounding drums create this intricate, gauzy composition. No words could truly do justice to describe this incredible track.

Swans – A Little God In My Hands

I saw Swans twice this autumn – once in San Francisco and once in Boston. The studio versions of their songs are fantastic, but don’t hold a candle to the live performances and expansions of them – “A Little God In My Hands” is certainly not an exception to this. The first time I heard this song was during their set in SF and I was immediately hooked. The background chanting, the piano melody, the bass, and the hammer dulcimer are just a few of the elements on this song that I really love. The studio recording is fantastic, but I am certainly never going to forget seeing this song live.

Evanescence – Everybody’s Fool

I found myself listening to Evanescence’s debut album quite a bit during the autumn season, though the song I kept playing over and over was “Everybody’s Fool”. This song is a certified banger – Amy Lee’s oneiric vocals layered on top of themselves on top of heavy, punishing guitars and ethereal synths and dainty piano melodies create the sound that Evanescence is celebrated for. It’s another beautiful example of Evanescence’s amazing understanding of their sound and compositional abilities.

Ekaterina Velika – Ljubav

Belgrade’s own Ekaterina Velika are one of the most prominent and, in my opinion, one of the best acts to come out of the former Yugoslavia, and they’re one of the best New Wave acts I’ve come across in my exploration of the genre. “Ljubav” is a fun and uptempo track with an intricate and playful bassline and gipping vocal cadence. Vocalist Milan Mladenović has a captivating quality about him; his vocals are husky and bold, and the way he sings “Kako vreme nam prolazi / da, vreme nam prolazi brzo” in the beginning of the third verse just scratches my brain in the best way possible. It’s something about the stressed/elongated consonants in “brzo” I think, since in English it’s not something we tend to do, as we tend to elongate vowels.

Swans – Paradise Is Mine

This second Swans entry is another song I heard live and loved from the first listen. The dueling bass melodies are my favorite aspects of the track. The tension that begins to be built and layered at the beginning is gentle and evolves into what I can only call as “purposeful chaos”, which is much better illustrated during the live performances of this song – you hear every instrument played at full-throttle, all at once, as a beautiful cacophony of discordant, pummeling noise.

Ekaterina Velika – Svetilište

The element that keeps me coming back again and again to this track off of Samo par godina za nas, is this grungy, groovy, plucky bass that’s found throughout the song. I have been, and will always be, such a sucker for a good, solid bassline. While I personally feel that Bojan Pečar’s bass really steals the show on this track, I absolutely cannot go on without mentioning the vocals – Mladenović pulls out all the stops on “Svetilište”, and the backing vocals support the gravelly, spoken verses and fill the soundscape in-between. Not only is it the strongest closing track Ekaterina Velika ever recorded, but it’s also one of their strongest songs.