Anticipating Autumn

Three good reasons to look forward to the (Northern hemispherical) Autumn - besides beautifully-coloured crunchy leaves underfoot: there are new albums due out by three of my favourite artists.

Amy Winehouse blew me away with her sassy, jazzy, smoky, sparky debut - Frank. This woman has the most amazing voice and some seriously eyebrow-raising lyrics. The new album apparently has a 1950's vibe.

Beck had me from Odelay, way back in 1996 when the uniform consisted of flannelette shirts for the boys and white t-shirts under spaghetti strap dresses for the girls. I have since accumulated all of his albums (even the kind-of-depressing Mutations), but Seachange was the album that made me relegate Beck to always-buy status. His new album apparently harks back to his mid-90's work.

Joanna Newsom is a new addition for me. She definitely takes a few listens to get used to, and a few more again to start appreciating. Her voice is like that of a crazed girl-child muppet, but her lyrics read like snippets of pure poetry - "music deserving devotion unswerving", alright. She accompanies herself on the harp and piano. This is an artist who has really captured my imagination, and I am really interested to hear more of her stuff.

Bring on those brisk and breezy Autumn days, I say; fill your ears with soul-warming music as you pull your coat tighter around you.