Mixtape: Snow
Maybe, like me, you're having a tough time keeping it together this winter. A sad song could snap that tinsel-thin spirit — or some other stereotypical imagery fit for the holiday's fragility — and everything falls out.
For me, as usual, it was a song by The Innocence Mission. "Snow" first appeared on 1999's Birds of My Neighborhood, a great introduction to the band if you've never heard them. On that version, sparse piano and brushed drums swing around Karen Peris' delicate voice and fingerpicked guitar. She sorta mumbles the outro, unsure of what to say, which says something for someone so articulate about our delicate tether to each other and the divine.
But it's the version of "Snow" on the snow on pi day EP that broke me. Just Karen's voice, a piano on gauzy sustain, some decorative guitar and these words:
If I go out in the morning snow
In my pajamas and my winter coat
And take from the house our darker thoughts
And take away the memory of loss
And if I drop them into the snow
Will we never find them anymore?
"Some winters are harder than others," she admits later on and, instead of muttering through somehow, hits the piano with a down-but-not-defeated gale force. It's the one last gift that needs wrapping, the friend who stopped calling, the family member struggling, the expectations unending, the oppressed screaming to be seen as human — everything's in that chord.
"I know this sounds crazy, but maybe the most beautiful part of Christmas is the sadness," writes Sarah Condon. "Because if we try to ignore the grief and pain of human existence then we are left with the worst part: the command to be happy at Christmas."
So here I am, Charlie Brown-ing at the end of the year, knowing that some of y'all are, too. This mixtape leans into that sadness, favoring abstract reflections on winter as well as traditional and reimagined carols and songs that have nothing to do with the season, but nevertheless have given me support lately. Oh, and because it did make my spirits bright, we close with a Stryper cover (?!) by The Blamed featuring Five Iron Frenzy's Reese Roper (!!??) — I honestly didn't know I needed a goofy version of the hair metal band's holiday hit with gang vocals. —Lars Gotrich
P.S.: I'm gonna be handing out 100 download codes for Last Winter We Didn't Sing all week. In 2008, I made the drone-y/bummer-y Christmas/winter comp I always wanted, featuring many of my favorite musicians. Follow me or just respond to this email if you want one. There are also a handful of CDs left — I'll do my best to ship fast as I can if you buy one.
P.P.S.: If you're looking for a long, extremely genre-agnostic holiday playlist on conventional streaming platforms, check out the Viking's Choice Holiday Special.
Stream the Viking's Choice mixtape via BNDCMPR. Follow my Bandcamp collection. Tracklist below:
Woo, "Music Box"
Laura Cannell, "Memories of Stars"
Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus, "Янголи в небі (Angels In Heaven)"
E.L. Heath, "Fireflies"
J.R. Bohannon, "Skating"
Piotr Kurek, "Walk"
Mindspring Memories, "laserdiscs on christmas"
Casey Cantwell, "Bring a torch, Jeanette Isabella"
Cryo Chamber, "Winter Restlessness"
Mosaic, "Silent World, Holy Awe"
Kevin Hufnagel, "Never Known"
Mike Weis, "Number 4"
Himmelsrandt, "III"
r beny, "glacial tongues"
The Lothars, "Oh Holy Night"
Warmfurs, "soft snow"
Ronnie Martin, "Noble Fir"
Daily rituals, "winter morning pastoral"
Terje Isungset, Lena Nymark, Sidsel Walstad, Nils Økland, Espen Jørgensen, "Fading sun"
Nonconnah, "fear not, for the light is a hymn"
Frode Haltli (feat. Helga Myhr), "St. Morten"
A Sunny Day in Glasgow, "Fantasia on Xmas (From Vaughan Williams)"
The Furrow Collective, "The Cherry Tree Carol"
Binaural Space, "Good, Generosity, Love"
Björk, "Frosti"
Pandit Pam Pam, "Equipe Exploratória Papai Natal II"
Nicholas Szczepanik, "It's Been So Cold Since You've Been Gone"
The Innocence Mission, "Snow"|
Sam Phillips, "Silent Night"
Rachel Love, "Christmas Wishes"
Seth Martin, "Hush"
Fischersund, Sin Fang, Kjartan Holm, "Heims Um Ból Re-Imagined"
Isnaj Dui, "பனி"
Lemon Quartet, "Twenty Years of Pencil"
The Dream Scene, "Christmas Candle"
Arcanta, "Carol of the Bells"
Mournful Congregation, "June Frost"
Solar Hex, "Rabbit's Moon"
Stumbleine, "Hold On (Frostbitten)"
Lee Bozeman, "Jubilee"
카코포니(cacophony), "Christmas"
Eivind Aarset & Jan Bang, "Serenade"
Ondine Chorus, "There is No Rose of Such Virtue"
The Blamed, "Reese'n for the Season"