I’m a firm believer that seasons shouldn’t be rushed. The hype for Halloween in July and the Christmas rush in November make me physically ill in a way that should be studied by the pumpkin spice latte enthusiasts.

As much as I am stubborn in this and in more ways than one, I am open-minded. Thus, the only exception I’ve made for this rule in recent years is Margot Miller’s recent EP, Downy Hair (Turns Into Stubble), released on May 8. The project boasts a genre that I like to affectionately dub “rustic folk,” which is the exact type of music that reminds me of crisp nights and binge-watching Over the Garden Wall.

It’s not just the vibes, though, that invoke the transitional season as the lyrics themselves touch a number of changes, per se: growing up queer, building trust, and learning to get back up after falling. And with track transitions that make my 14-year-old emo heart sing and reminisce on P!ATD’s Pretty. Odd., Downy Hair is both a nostalgia-fest and a modern addition to the folk genre.

Starting off with “FROGGY,” listeners are thrown into a call-and-response that serves as a punch to the beginning of the EP. It immediately establishes that sense of community that Miller claims is essential to the project as a whole. The chant of “FROGGY” then leads directly into “Reborn!,” a track that could land on the discographies of Bears in Trees or Ricky Montgomery, both lyrically and sonically. Its metaphorical and abstract lyrics seemingly don’t fit together until you look a bit closer at the layers of meaning, much like Montgomery’s 2016 album Montgomery Ricky. With another callback to the chant from “FROGGY,” “Reborn!” again reestablishes the importance of having those around you be vocal supporters in your work, both literally and figuratively.

“Dirt Under Nails” is where the EP dissolves into a full folk sound, the added strings thickening the usual leanness associated with folkier tunes. This song is my personal favorite and additionally the strongest on the album, but maybe I’m also just partisan to explosive endings with drawn-out escalations (think The Lumineers’ “Leader of the Landslide” or Djo’s “Awake”). As a whole, it builds up to a chilling climax with ghostlike vocal harmonies until it briefly transcends folk and into more of an indie rock, which is an ambiance that follows into track four, “Chest Bruised.” Miller’s grittier vocals match the intensity of this track, as they sing the physical blow of a line, “You said cry me a river, / and I cried you a lake / ‘Cause rivers move forward / but I stay in place.”

“Cold Towel” momentarily slows things down a bit from the upward climb that pervades the middle of the EP. Though the weakest song on the album musically, with melodies that sound a bit rushed and clunky, its lyrics are perhaps the most vulnerable on the EP and clearly serve as a self-reflection of a religious past and growing up: “This afternoon we drove up a Know Nothing mountain highway / to the state park neither of us / had seen since our kiddie days.” The EP closer and titular track “Downy Hair” embraces all facets of the album while still leaving the listener eager for more. It’s a perfect way to end the 20-minute journey just embarked on without repeating anything present in the 17 minutes that happened before.

Downy Hair (Turns Into Stubble) is not the first of Miller’s releases—with EPs Shave Days in 2024 and The Northeast EP in 2022—but it’s certainly the most established and confident of the bunch. Each track is independent of the other yet cohesive in a way that contributes to a cohesive whole, the common denominator being rustic folk warmth and emotional vulnerability. It’s also the only thing that has ever made me willingly romanticize autumn before Labor Day, which is praise I’ll hand out just this once.

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Featured image taken by Caitlin Farrell