Sometimes the best thing one can do is listen to a song out of season. There’s something magical about gazing upon beauty at its weakest and least desirable. It made sense when Sparrow House, AKA Jared Van Fleet of Voxtrot, released his Falls EP in the dwindling months of 2006. But listening to it now and stomaching “When I Am Gone” in these sweltering months is as disorienting as it is spellbinding. Elliott Smith—clearly one of Sparrow House’s influences if the finger picking, vocal doubling, and aptly placed piano are any indication—wasn’t meant to be heard in the splash and sunlight of summer, and neither was this song.

But here it is. Unnatural. Unripe. Too tart to savor let alone swallow.

All the right fall chords are there—the C to Am transition, an E for declining temperatures. Each note was tenderly chosen and plucked for harvest, but in this July haze they’re a midday cup of warm milk. My throat is coated in that wounded voice, that solemn sound: “You were the one who could break me with the whisper.”

My head lolls as I sit in swim trunks wishing I knew what Sparrow House knew about crafting effective, simple arrangements. It’s one thing to layer a song, blanketing one instrument over another to form something complex and warranting several listens; it’s one thing to compose a song that is incredible and yet caters to the lowest common denominator. “When I Am Gone,” however, is a masterpiece because it goes above and beyond both of these aims. The track was so thoroughly meant for one season that it can’t help but take one aback (and thus have an impact) throughout the year’s remaining segments. One way or another, one time or another, “When I Am Gone” is bound to leave a bruise, and in no way is this a complaint.

I spoke with Jared during the recent Voxtrot tour. He thought his Sparrow House songs were too slow. Sweating post-performance in the heat of the unairconditioned venue, I thought how nothing could be further from the truth. His tracks weren’t slow; they were perfect for when they were even if all of them weren’t perfect for what they were. And sometimes that’s what people needed, a right song for a wrong moment in life, something to tuck away a year to slumber.

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