What makes something good or not good for winter?
Indeed, this is a question debated by the greats of philosophy. We could use the axiom of, “anything involving Christmas is Christmas media” — by which Die Hard would finally be vindicated as a true “Christmas movie.”
Using media to meditate on the season’s mood, to celebrate its holidays, or rage against its desolation; that is what makes something “winter media” in my mind.
With all that out of the way, here are a few records I would recommend for getting through the winter.
Keep in mind this list is quite varied. Some of these are quiet and somber — others intense, even rageful. For us in the Midwest, the latter is a decent antidote to the non-freezing, sometimes snow-less gloom that comes with winter.
No. 1: Souvenirs d’un autre monde (Alcest, 2007)
Alcest is notable for their fusion of black metal’s rhythms and intensity with the layered effects of shoegaze.
This subgenre is what critics would later term “blackgaze.” The word would later gain popularity in the US with the success of bands like Deafheaven.
For their studio debut, however, Alcest’s Souvenirs is markedly more -gaze than it is black-. But if Deafheaven’s heights have taught me anything, it is that shoegaze is still plenty intense when used intentionally.
The rhythmic cymbals of “Printemps émeraude” signal right away the careful balance between elegance, melody, and energy that this album strikes.
The title track and “Les iris” prefer to immerse you in a sea of effects. But, even there, there is a notable continuity that keeps you from drowning (not that there’s anything wrong with pure noise).
Their music immerses you in… well, un autre monde — another world. Despite their sound not directly having the timbre of old world instruments, it evokes fantastical landscapes — a commonality in the band’s discography.
To me, “Ciel errant” fittingly evokes a scene of great clouds drifting over a great and vast plain. The closing track’s title, “Tir nan og,” alludes to the Celtic Otherworld — the realm of deities. This specific, spiritual focus is reflected in the song’s drums and playful piano notes.
In one way or another, Souvenirs is an excellent pick for the winter. It has a remarkable ability to reflect the season’s melancholy, even to place you in a world untouched by the changes changes of ours.
No. 2: Tranquilizer (Oneohtrix Point Never, 2025)
Not enough of a getaway?
Oneohtrix Point Never’s eleventh album is an enchanting work of sound-collage. I found the album more approachable and immediately exciting compared to his previous albums, such as R Plus Seven and Replica.
The album’s inspiration was impermanence, one could say. Lopatin is cited in a Spin article as being inspired by the realization a beloved set of sample CDs had disappeared from the Internet Archive.
Indeed, the album’s sound cannot be pinpointed to be one specific thing . Any melody or rhythm or innovatively-used sample gives way to sudden stops, jumps, or static and noise.
But, to me, Tranquilizer feels… natural, somehow, almost utopian. Like a sonic distillation of bygone dreams of humanity achieving unity with time and nature.
The soundscapes are often uplifting, even comforting though they usually lack any traditional rhythm.
These moments of meditation can often be cut short — but have we ever had enough time to fully appreciate this world’s beauty?
Tranquilizer is an enigmatic, layered peek into a world of alternate reality — for me, of old visions of paradise, of a world regenerating even as humanity bleeds it.
No. 3: Translating the Name (Saosin, 2003)
Sometimes you don’t want to roll with the seasons, and just rage against the dying of the light with some charged emo.
You’d be in luck, as Saosin’s debut EP features arguably their most upfront and intense work.
From the opening drum line of “Seven Years” to the fade-out of “They Perched on Their Stilts…,” you are wound and thrown through the emotional world of lead vocalist Anthony Green.
Green would leave the band soon after Translating released and form the band Circa Survive — not returning until 2016 for Saosin’s third studio album, Along the Shadow.
His conflict with the band is apparent in the closing track, which in my interpretation is a song about making songs when you don’t want to make songs. It’s a memoir of the frustration that comes with dredging up ghosts without the intent to exorcize them.
Regardless, Green makes a stunning performance here — reaching vocal heights that make you wonder if he permanently damaged his voice on the record.
The one-time drumming of Pat Magrath is nothing to scoff at — he is in my view an emo counterpart to Slipknot’s Joey Jordison on this record.
And when all else fails, and Green’s layered, cryptic lyrics don’t process in the way they do perhaps to him, the sadness and even rage he feels is on full display in this EP. As I see it, that, above all else, is what defines a great emo record.
No. 4: SMILE! :D (Porter Robinson, 2024)
If you want to rebel against the temptations of winter’s lethargy, why be sad while you do it?
SMILE! :D is Porter Robinson’s third studio album under his own name — a project that was initially supposed to be an “all-fun,” completely unserious record.
The end product, however, is almost comically off the mark from that vision. Here Porter reckons with obsessive parasocial relationships; the inevitable and unending nature of nostalgia; and even the “appeal” of suicide.
However, these all occur in what are arguably Porter’s most uplifting and peppy soundscapes ever.
It is not a downer record — it’s an energetic and insightful one, one that earnestly explores difficult subjects while still making them irresistibly fun.
And, in the case of “Russian Roulette,” it breaks from its own meaninglessness and apathy with a crescendo that I have not heard matched before or since.
SMILE! :D is overwhelmingly, (and for Porter, sometimes painfully) honest about the pitfalls of fame and trying to exist in this strange world. It’s proof that pop can be wonderfully resonant in both emotional depth and sonic appeal. The way I see it, the former only adds to the latter.
As an addendum: if you get the chance to play Porter’s songs on Dance Dance Revolution — absolutely do so. I promise it’ll be worth your time.
No. 5: Leaves Turn Inside You (Unwound, 2001)
Unwound’s seventh and final studio outing is a patient, slow, methodical (but not lackadaisical) post-punk/-hardcore/-etc record.
To me, it is the closest musical equivalent I’ve found to the feeling of walking through an overcast autumn forest.
Leaves elects not to hold you hand, only keeping you enough company to keep you listening. The opener, “We Invent You,” opts to blast a high-frequency waveform straight into your brain as its first act.
The vocals are vaguely dreary, the guitars introspective. The steady, even hypnotic drums almost act as prosthetic legs, moving for you through the bleak soundscapes so that you don’t sink in the mire.
But the album is not overwhelmingly pessimistic — this is not a HEALTH project, after all. More often then not, I found myself experiencing with this album a specific, melancholic sort of reflection. This feeling is in tune with the pain the world brings but not chooses to wallow on them, more so note their existence (although the former is also completely valid).
This emotion is something I experience frequently in the wintertime, especially when there is no snow out to compensate even a little for the cold. At times like these, the world merely feels otherwise lifeless to me, and it becomes harder to resist feeling apathetic to everything.
Still, though, it is sometimes nice to look inward with that sort of solemn insight. Leaves Turn Inside You is an excellent soundtrack for such an experience.
Indeed, there is no “correct way” to observe the coming of winter. It’s a tough season for many, and I hope that you dear readers can find shelter within these works.
Or, alternatively, use this list as a map to other, similar music. Perhaps you find winter a fitting season to explore the viking metal of Amon Amarth, or burn the snow away in the hellfires of black metal.
Maybe you want to look at Oneohtrix Point Never’s earlier, more synth-based work. I speak no declarations, merely friendly advice.
Being a storied and distinctly human medium, music is a unique mirror into our species’ familiar emotions and experiences. It takes what is in our heads and turns it into something that can help people process their world (and perhaps dance to).
Given how it’s been a part of humanity about as far back as recorded history, we have to at least be doing that one thing right.