Autumn Recommendations
- Creative Team
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
The Broad's Seasonal Recommendations are back! Kristy, Daniel and Alexis from the Creative Team have put together their picks for you to listen to, watch, and read to get you in the autumnal mood. From cosy and comforting to spooky and mysterious, there is something for everyone on this list!
TO LISTEN
Kristy's pick: Lord Huron, The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1
Lord Huron’s most recent album treads familiar ground content-wise for the band, but places them in a spacier, reverb-soaked sound. It is the perfect mix of lonely, spooky, and dark to soundtrack the cold autumn months.
Alexis' pick: Skinshape, Orocolo
This album’s mellow and nostalgic gentle guitar tones mix together jazz and soulful melodies to create a reflective atmosphere, perfect for slower library sessions or chilly introspective walks through the meadows. The song ‘Summer’ from this album aptly captures the post-summer melancholy of the changing seasons.
Daniel's pick: Gregory Alan Isakov, This Empty Northern Hemisphere
Isakov’s 2009 album is famous for certain standout songs (such as Big Black Car, a staple autumn song), but slightly less so as a complete album. The slow, bittersweet guitar instrumentation, along with lyrics which vary between fictional and autobiographical, makes this album very immersive and rewarding to repeat listeners. It is a beautiful album, and the lyrical narration that goes from direct to symbolic and multi-layered will mean something different to everyone who listens to it.
TO WATCH
Kristy's pick: Crimson Peak
Guillermo del Toro’s Gothic film takes after Rebecca with elements of the fairy tale ‘Bluebeard’. Following Edith (Mia Wasikowska) as she enters into an ill-fated marriage to Tom Hiddleston’s Thomas Sharpe and finds herself at odds with his sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain), the stunning visuals and delightfully creepy atmosphere will thrill any lover of the Gothic.
Alexis' pick: Good Will Hunting
A cosy classic of romance and drama, this movie has all the ingredients for a wholesome viewing with friends. The late 1990s grainy aesthetic of the film, along with the deeply reflective nature of the storyline, leave you coming away to rethink your own life path as well as which values you hold most closely.
Daniel's pick: Robot Dreams
Beginning at the end of summer and continuing on throughout autumn and winter, this animated film tells the story of the improbable, profound connection between a dog and a robot in 1980s New York. It is an animated film, a creative decision which richly allows the recreation of a New York that no longer exists (featuring the song September as a central motif) and makes the love story at the centre more vivid, tender and memorable. This movie is both uplifting and heartbreaking, and to me perfectly captures the feeling of warmth against the cold that I look for in a movie during autumn.
TO READ
Kristy's pick: Jenni Fagan, Luckenbooth
Just in time for Halloween, Jenni Fagan’s story of a curse that haunts an Edinburgh building for one-hundred years will give any reader a new-found appreciation for the city’s old streets, small closes, and far-reaching history. The secrets and intrigue tucked into every corner of this novel will draw you in, but it is the heart behind it and the sympathy for its characters that will make you stay.
Alexis' pick: Tove Jansson, Moominvalley in November
This melancholic yet heart-warming novel invites introspection and contemplation beyond the words on the page. It explores the nature of solitude, aloneness and abandonment. Although technically written as a children’s book, there is endless wisdom to be gained from the musings and ploddings of the various characters within the whimsical world of Moominvalley as they prepare for winter.
Daniel’s pick: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind
Zafón’s 2001 novel has enjoyed great international success, and for good reason. Set in Barcelona under the Franco dictatorship, this novel tells the story of Daniel, who refuses to give away a novel he picks out from ‘The Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ and quickly discovers that the novel he has picked out is at the centre of a wide-spanning plot much bigger than him, which puts him in grave danger. Mixing magical realism with the brutal reality of the Franco regime, as well as effortlessly conjuring up the mysterious and secretive streets of Zafón’s Barcelona, this novel is a must-read for book lovers and has a perfect atmosphere for Halloween week.
Comments