Today marks the fifth day of Christmas, the fifth night of Hanukkah, and the fourth day of Kwanzaa, so it seems like a good time to celebrate December, the month that hosts all of these holidays. Enter, Steven Wilson and company, with a brief playlist of new tracks, beginning with a seasonal selection. Scroll down to the end for a link to the whole playlist.
5 Golden Tunes
Steven Wilson: “December Skies”
Enter Steven Wilson, the great English musician and producer. If you don’t know Wilson’s work and would like to sample it, I highly recommend his album Hand. Cannot. Erase. as a gateway drug. He has also produced a number of the special Dolby Atmos mixes for Apple Music. This month he dropped a new song called “December Skies” (the cover art for which is pictured above), unconnected to an album project as far as I know. According to Wilson, a friend recently gave him a hard time because he had never written a Christmas song. He responded that Christmas songs were not his style, and as a lark, he asked Chat-GPT to write lyrics for a seasonal song in the style of Steven Wilson that doesn’t actually mention Christmas. The music, however, is pure human-intelligence, with music by Wilson and guitar solo from Randy McStine. It is a song that celebrates the cold magic of December without reference to any specific holiday, though there are some musical hints of seasonal music (bells, “drummer-boy” snares). It’s beautiful, and it magically evokes the season.
I’m an AI-alarmist by nature, but Wilson’s experiment is just that—a fun experiment—and his gorgeous music makes the effort very human indeed.
The other selections here are not specifically seasonal, but they are some interesting recent releases that you may enjoy.
David Gilmour: “The Piper’s Call”
This is a live version of a song from his recent album Luck and Strange (featured in PCF’s favorite albums of 2024), which includes a wicked concluding guitar solo.
Kelly Moran: “Superhuman” (Loraine James and Fyn Dobson Remix)
This remix is very different from the version that appeared on Kelly Moran’s recent album Moves in the Field (also featured as a PCF 2024 favorite). It is complete with glitchy percussion and electronic effects. I prefer the original, but this one is interesting and worth hearing.
Ashe: “Please Don’t Fall in Love with Me”
Do not—I repeat, do NOT fall in love with Ashe. She predicts all sorts of disasters if you do. This is a track from her album Willson, another 2024 PCF favorite.
Brian Eno: “Fragmented Film”
And we conclude with a spooky track from the ambient-music wizard Brian Eno. It’s perhaps appropriate to end on this anxious note, since there is much to worry about in the new year. There is not a version of this track on YouTube at the moment, but here it is on Apple Music.
But if you need reassurance, then just listen to “December Skies” again, and remember that we still have a couple days left of this glorious month.
If you have Apple Music, then you may find the whole playlist here.
Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet bells to yours.
Happy December’s End to you, too! Applause for “Please don’t fall in love with me” - a song to pair with “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”! At last, a woman’s worthy retort to Shakespeare’s one-sided sonnet. Peace and merriment to your family!
Always grand--and missing your support -- so agree with Tara!