Spring weather is right around the corner — some might say it’s coming with a strawberry in its mouth.
With this comes the seasonal shifts in my playlist. The winter 2025 – 2026 seasonal playlist is coming to a close, making way for the spring 2026 playlist to make its debut.
Although spring is heavily associated with nostalgia, memories and rebirth, I find that this year’s season in particular is symbolically potent for me. Many things could be to blame for this: my study abroad experience was exactly a year ago, and the nature of senior year drawing near, to name a few.
Whenever nostalgia, reflection and spring melancholia hit, I’m drawn to a specific genre of music: indie-folk.
An artist whom I have found myself circling back to during this indie-folk spring period of reflective music listening is Connecticut-born and raised Jake Minch.
Fairly new to the music scene — dropping his first song, “Handgun” in 2023 — Minch is an incredibly talented singer-songwriter who weaves together vividly introspective lyrics with mesmerizing and emotive guitar lines.
I first stumbled upon Minch last summer when I heard “Fingers and Clothes” (shoutout Spotify Discover Weekly). Woah. This song is warm-weather, distant hope, curiosity filled limernce and brightness all neatly wrapped up.
With a rhythmic, moving guitar line and a harmony that follows Minch’s vocals throughout the song, what’s not to love about this song?
“They said, tell me where your mind goes / Four years and you’re still not over it / For something that was shorter than a cigarеtte.”
After the brilliant discovery, which was “Fingers and Clothes,” naturally, I had to give the rest of Minch’s 2025 debut album, “George,” a listen; incredible. From introspective, lyrical acoustic tracks to the occasional more electric, rock-esque tracks, there’s a little bit of everything on this record.
All the tracks off George have been my favorite at one point or another, but the one embodying all the feelings, moods and desires of this liminal weather era of spring is none other than “First I was.”
I don’t joke when I tell you I have listened to this song at least 3 times every single day the past week or two. And, knowing myself, the thing drawing me to these habitual listenings of this song, as well as others, is a well-written bridge.
“First I Was” opens up with a picked guitar pattern and a soft percussive beat to back. Minch enters with his signature soft and melancholic timbre.
“Another band’s playing out tonight at the Mint / And no one’s really going for the music / Oh, it’s a guy talking like he’s tryna win something / And everyone thinking that they’re better than him.”
The song builds, building to the emotional climax, which is the bridge. Droning and hypnotic, Minch sings one consistent note the whole bridge — the effect is quite moving.
“Learnin’ from a tooth brush about a sugar rush / About sharing beds and liking getting dirty, just to wash it from your hands / I’d be trying to get my work done / You’d be sleeping on my legs / I’d be yelling over nothing.”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the bridge is coming up, and I need to listen to it while I sip on my cup of tea, staring at the sky.
Hirata can be reached at [email protected].
