“Autumn Love” by Tyson Motsenbocker, Sunday, October 6, 2024
On August 23, 2019, Tyson Motsenbocker released the first single from his second studio album, Someday I’ll Make It All Up to You, “The Last Summer.” The wistful song about growing up and time passing was followed by “Sunday Morning,” a track in which Motsenbocker compares the feelings people get from religious experiences to those that people get from taking drugs. Finishing the trilogy of 2019 pre-release singles for his upcoming February 14, 2020 album was “Autumn Love.” The love song contrasts the passage of time, specifically in autumn, with a constant love that only deepens as natural events from the death of the last Junebug to the leaves changing and frost covering each morning. We are a few weeks into fall, but it’s a strange one in South Korea as the temperature has only started dropping. People are still swimming at the beach in October! “Autumn Love” presents an idyllic autumn scene, but what happens when the season starts to disappear because of climate change?
CHARLOTTESVILLE AND THE LEAVES HAVE CHANGED. In “Autumn Love,” Tyson Motsenbocker talks about trips to the airport and contrasts the winds in Santa Ana, California with the leaves changing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Both place and seasons are constant motifs in Motsenbocker’s music. On the Long Distance Listening Podcast, Motsenbocker calls the changing of seasons “almost liturgical” as he talks about growing up in the Northwest where there are four seasons, and living in an Eastern state for a time. He describes the “visceral change” he experienced with the seasons, stating, “You can feel the river of time slipping below you” as he experienced the sights and smells of each season from the wheat in the summer to the salted roads in the winter. Yet the singer settled in Southern California many years ago. “And in California,” Motsenbocker says, “I had this moment where my first fall here was really strange and then I didn't notice it. And then like 10 years went by and I was just like, I was like, whoa, like in a lot of ways, I feel like, you know, it's odd because I moved here 10 years ago.” Motsenbocker questions what happens when he realizes that his life has slipped by in the absence of notable seasonal changes.
WHEN THE FROST COMES DOWN IN THE MORNING DEW. “Autumn Love” ends with similar synth/organ/theremin(? ) instrumentation as Sufjan Stevens’ “Should Have Known Better.” Motsenbocker has built his career as being Sufjan-adjacent, often working with the same studio musicians in Stevens’ sphere of influence. Motsenbocker draws influence from Stevens, but rather than Stevens’ reclusion and mere pinholes into his personal life through his music, Motsenbocker comparatively, is often forthcoming with explaining what the lyrics he penned meant to him at the time of writing the song. Stevens is certainly a master of capturing a moment and a feeling that then becomes something that listeners incorporate into their sufferings and longings. Motsenbocker’s explanations of his lyrics make him more accessible, which is important for artists who don’t have a huge following like Stevens. As I’ve started to be more intentional with my playlists, today’s song, “Autumn Love,” has me reflecting more on Motsenbocker’s thoughts on living in a place where seasons change more subtly. I love fall and I love the subtle changes, but often I feel too busy with grading and planning in peak academic season to notice those changes. And then I think about college and high school, writing papers inside rather than enjoying the crisp air. Finally, as I’m starting to find some work/life balance being in the same field for over ten years, climate change has really screwed up the shift from summer to fall this year. It makes me, too, wonder how in the future I will notice the subtle passage of time, or will it go by so quickly like Tyson in California? It’s a scary notion and I hope that we can find a new normal.
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