What Hi-Fi?’s October 2026 “Now Playing” feature rounds up six tracks for spooky-season listening and informal hi-fi exploration. The picks range from Lana Del Rey’s shadowy cover of “Season Of The Witch” to Lamb’s stereo-spanning “We Fall In Love”; they offer listening prompts, not a standardized test of audio equipment.
Published October 6, 2026, and written by senior staff writer Harry McKerrell, the feature is part of What Hi-Fi?’s series about music its review team has been listening to. McKerrell explains the approach this way: “Sometimes we rely on old favourites with which we’re familiar, but we are always discovering new tracks”. The descriptions below are the writers’ editorial impressions, not controlled listening-test results.
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Six tracks for October listening
1. “Season Of The Witch” — Lana Del Rey
Del Rey’s 2019 cover of Donovan’s 1966 original leans into a smoky, atmospheric mood. The feature points to her vocal, layered harmonies and soft textures as reasons to hear it on headphones or a stereo system. Its shadowy feel also makes it an easy fit for autumn and spooky-season playlists.
2. “Placeholder” — Gilla Band
This is the most abrasive pick: fuzzy, atonal synths, roomy percussion, distorted guitars and Dara Kiely’s vocals crowd the mix. McKerrell draws attention to a brief shift from delayed synthesizers to dry percussion before the track returns to dense industrial noise. His rollercoaster comparison describes the listening experience; it is not a claim about measured dynamic range.
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3. “Let The Gods Decide” — Dan Romer
Romer’s score cue is associated in the feature with a pivotal moment in the first season of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms. McKerrell describes it moving from gentle accompaniment toward a grander passage, with the scene’s emotional force sharpened by a recognizable Game Of Thrones musical theme. That response is the writer’s impression of the score and scene.
4. “Dracula” — Tame Impala
A playful groove gives the song a lighter side than its title suggests. The feature reads the refrain about daylight making the singer feel like Dracula as a witty image of staying out all night. McKerrell also says he had been told the track was resurfacing on social media; the article gives no audience figures or other data to establish the scale of that trend.
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5. “Spooky” — Dusty Springfield
The feature notes that “Spooky” was first recorded as an instrumental by saxophonist Mike Sharpe, then singles out Springfield’s version for its warm bass, breathy vocal and restrained saxophone flourishes. Whether it qualifies as a Halloween song is left as a matter of taste rather than a hard rule.
6. “We Fall In Love” — Lamb
Lamb’s open trip-hop soundscape combines shimmering percussion and quirky synths. Of the six picks, this is the clearest suggestion for listening to stereo imaging: the feature invites readers to notice how the elements occupy space when played through stereo speakers. It also points to the track’s composition, rather than treating any single sonic quality as a pass-or-fail measurement.
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How to use the picks when listening to a hi-fi system
These songs make a varied playlist, not a standardized test suite. Instead of asking whether a system “passes,” choose one quality to follow in each track:
- Texture and atmosphere: Listen for the layered harmonies and soft, smoky presentation in “Season Of The Witch.”
- Arrangement changes: Notice the shift between delayed synths, dry percussion and heavier noise in “Placeholder.”
- Scale: Follow the movement from gentle accompaniment toward a grander cue in “Let The Gods Decide.”
- Groove and vocal character: Attend to the playful feel and refrain in “Dracula.”
- Bass, voice and percussion: Focus on Springfield’s warm low end, breathy delivery and saxophone details in “Spooky.”
- Stereo image: Use “We Fall In Love” to listen for the placement and separation of sounds across stereo speakers.
The feature mentions both headphones and stereo systems as listening options; it does not recommend a particular model or say that new equipment is needed. The observations are useful prompts for attentive listening, but they do not independently establish how well a product performs.
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What this playlist does—and does not—tell you
The six choices combine seasonal mood, music discovery and a handful of audio qualities to notice. They do not compare products, streaming services or system performance, and the feature reports no survey, study or quantitative listening result. Treat its comments about the tracks and the writer’s personal reactions as editorial guidance, not objective measurements.
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