55 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Stream This Xmas here (Spotify)
One of the side-effects of being so immersed in Christmas music for 60 days of the year means that I get to discover artists who might have passed me by (but that I surely should have known about). Take Peter Foldy - he has a rich and storied history of crafting pop songs and directing hit movies. Yet his seasonal song, This Christmas, is the first of his songs that I've heard. And what an introduction it is. 2020 hasn't been entirely brilliant, has it, but Peter is determined to usher in the most wonderful time of the year with a song that sparkles like the brightest star in the sky. Jubilant lyrics see Peter embracing the magic of the holidays and recognising that spending it with those you love is the greatest gift you can get. Sometimes sweet, sometimes sassy, his vocals instantly draw the listener into the song as he guides the melody like Santa navigating his sleigh. With chimes, a percolating beat and a hook as big as the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree, he brings Christmas alive and soon has you grabbing the one you love for a shimmy. It is pristine pop that just raises your spirits and puts a bit smile on your face. And what more can you ask for than that?
The added benefit of discovering an artist later in their career means you get to deep dive into their discography. While I'm treated to the likes of his Nine Lives album and (more recent) Toxic World single, I'm thrilled to find This Christmas isn't Peter's first Yuletide offering. His 4 Christmas EP from 2014 has plenty of selections to keep your mood buoyant. Christmas Eve (With You) is a piano driven, 50s style pop-rock number with enough swagger to make it feel like it belongs in Grease: The Christmas Special. It feels warm and intimate, much like Christmas Wish. Jingling bells and sweeping strings swathe this sincere message while the middle 8 instrumental conjures up images of crackling fires and family sing-alongs. Peter's cinematic influences come through as this wouldn't feel out of place in a Muppet Christmas Sing-Along. A different Christmas Eve With You (no parenthesis for starters) traverses the passages of time to come from a grandiose 40s Hollywood movie-musical, all dapper elegance and heartfelt earnestness. Finally, a contemporary pop chugger wraps it all up with All I Want For Christmas (Is You). Stream all four songs here on Spotify - will make you glad from head to (mistle)toe...
**Ghosts of Christmas past:**
- 31st October 2019 ~ Ne-Yo, Another Kind of Christmas
- 31st October 2018 ~ Gwen Stefani, You Make It Feel Like Christmas (Deluxe Edition)
- 31st October 2017 ~ Gwen Stefani, You Make It Feel Like Christmas
- 31st October 2016 ~ Peter Hollens, A Hollens Family Christmas
- 31st October 2015 ~ RuPaul, Slay Belles
- 31st October 2013 ~ Susan Boyle ft The Overtones, Little Drummer Boy
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