For an artist to invoke one of the four seasons in their lyrics is a cheap and easy way to set a particular mood. Beyond mere words though, some music just feels like a certain time of year. Spring is probably the most underutilized season in popular music; however these five albums definitely have an inherent vernal quality.

1. Japandroids “Post-Nothing”: This Vancouver “maximalist” duo’s fantastic debut evokes end of the school year excitement and the promise of new beginnings; until, like these guys, you realize you’ll probably fill that freed time with the same stuff you did all semester: partying like crazy and feeling sad about girls.

2. Prince “Around the World in a Day”: Prince’s *ahem* eccentric follow-up to ultra-hit “Purple Rain” stands on the precipice of psychedelia, and probably confused the hell out of people in 1985. Nowadays, we know better than to be shocked by the purple prince and can instead enjoy the pastel shadings of “Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life” while the lotus flowers bloom in Paisley Park.

3. Red House Painters “Ocean Beach”: Dewy and wistful — just like spring — with melodies for miles. Be sure to tie a sweatshirt around your waist though, because it could get nippy around 5:30.

4. Mission of Burma “Signals, Calls and Marches”: I listened to this scrappy but sweet EP on repeat in a rent-a-car on a Pacific Coast highway one spring afternoon during high school, striding past the lofty redwoods and up and down the soft, wet viridian hills. And guess what? I won’t ever forget it. Listen to “All World Cowboy Romance” and you’ll know what I mean.

5. A Tribe Called Quest “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm”: Not their best but their first, which goes along with the whole “spring” thing I’m trying to do here. Plus, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg kick positive, insightful, only occasionally misogynistic jams that bring the uplift. “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo” perfectly describes that moment in spring when you realize the weather is just nice enough to bust town and visit a burrito place somewhere two hundred miles south.

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