I conceived this column during a particularly rainy stretch of last October. Walking down Wisconsin Ave., my ill-chosen shoes saturated in ankle-high puddles, I was lost in the throes of my favorite rainy day album. Removing the shoes to reveal ruined socks in the comfort of my apartment, I realized something about my music-listening habits: while I always love listening to music, I love it most in the rain.

Whether in my warm bedroom looking out at it, sitting in my car with the raindrops drumming on the roof, or walking through the downpour itself, my favorite memories of my favorite albums come from rainy days. Something about the gray outside brings out the colors of the music.

Is it because emotions are stronger on rainy days? Does the dimmer light mess with our chemicals? Are we forced to be more in touch with ourselves when we can‰’t go outside? Or does the large-scale falling of water have a subconscious pull on our feelings? All I know is that on sunny, bright days, I want to listen to music, but on rainy days I need to.

Anyway, with this idea in mind I thought it would be interesting to poll a group of friends and acquaintances to see what their favorite albums were to listen to on a rainy day. Interestingly, a lot of the albums they picked resonate with my own rainy day choices.

Thus was born my column: a survey of the preferred rainy day albums of this group of people. Every week will feature a different friend‰’s choice and a discussion on whatever the album may be and what makes it particularly special for one of those eternal, gray, wet days.

The albums I will cover this semester are all pretty incredible. While most of them (not all) fall in the indie rock category, they still cover a wide spectrum of style, sound, and emotion. Furthermore, they are all exceedingly powerful to listen to on rainy days. If you want to use this column as a listening guide when the weather gets you down, feel free! We‰’ll begin for real next week with a pick from our very own general manager, Maxwell (and one of my favorites, too).