Musical Seasons

This morning while getting ready for work I've decided to prepare myself for a Ray LaMontage and David Grey concert that I am going to a week from Wednesday.  They also both have new albums being released tomorrow, so I'll have a big music day.  The are playing at the Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park, and I bought the tickets almost as much for the location as I did for the music.  I saw the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play there two years ago and it's amazing to watch the sunset behind the city architecture while listening to good music, but that's not what this post is about.

I'm interested in how music correlates to seasons and why? I know that obviously a song can bring up emotions and memories of a pinpointed place.  U2's "With or Without You" reminds me of my high school boyfriend and "The World At Large" by Modest Mouse always makes me think of a specific gas station in Manchester, ME where my Dad and I stopped on our way home one day while listening to the album for the first time.  However I seem to correlate genres of music with specific seasons.

It's 80 degrees outside and humid, and I listen to Ray LaMontage and I want to put on boots and a corduroy blazer.  I associate that guitar centric, sing songwriter haunting voice with fall. It reminds me of going back to school, kicking leaves while walking on the sidewalk, and deciding whether a sweater is enough or if I will need a jacket too.  I've realized I think this is because growing up in Boston and spending my summers in Maine I had two distinctive groups of friends, and the high school ones were more the mellow sounds of these guitarist.  The school year was usually highlighted with One Fell Swoop/Dispatch, Guster, and John Mayer concerts, and sitting in friends basements to see what Van Morrison song they learned on their guitar that week.  Even in college, my sophomore year the first week back we went to see Ben Harper and Jack Johnson at Red Rocks, with a special surprise appearance of G. Love.

The same way hip hop and punk/rock reminds me of summer.  The skaters and others I hung out with would be blasting what was then the new Chronic 2001 and going to Dropkick Murphy's and Bouncing Souls concerts.  Another summer staple was Dave Matthews Band, but I'm sure that has to do with the fact that he does his huge tours every summer.

I obviously don't only listen to certain genre of music during certain seasons, it's just the way the songs make me feel and the way I correlate it to the season.  That being said, this concert could not come at a better time for at least my psyche, the last week of August, just in time to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall.  I almost hope there's a chill in the air next Wednesday.