Tag: Canada

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Tim Baker – Full Rainbow of Light (2024/2025)

a window surrounded by snow.

End Times Music
Buy: Bandcamp | Vinyl

You may be familiar with the excellent Canadian indie rock band Hey Rosetta!, which unfortunately disbanded in 2017. Readers of this site may be most familiar with their holiday EP, A Cup of Kindness Yet. Though… I would have thought I would have written about that record at some point, but I haven’t. So, I suppose this might be new to you as well. Check it out below if you haven’t heard it before, it is quite good.

(If you haven’t noticed, my posts are more like a conversation than a good piece of writing, and I hope you don’t mind.)

I didn’t come here to talk about the Hey Rosetta EP, I actually popped onto the site to talk about the lead singer Tim Baker’s latest LP, Full Rainbow of Light, which was initially released in 2024. The record is filled with beautiful Christmas, New Year’s, and wintery-themed songs. Yes, this is one of those special records we all hope for, one containing nearly all originals. In his initial release, there are only two covers, one traditional and the other, the contemporary classic “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” Tim expanded the record for 2025 with Full Rainbow of Light Deluxe Edition, which features 3 additional songs, including a cover of Jackson Browne’s wonderful “The Rebel Jesus.” This whole record is pretty damn beautiful, and I’m sure a bunch of you will love it.

Bottom Line: Someone in our little Christmas community with a bit more energy and eloquence really needs to take a stab at a review. I know Stubby found it last year on the forum, but that’s the only mention I’ve caught yet…

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ctznshp “Holiday Lights” (2013/2025)

A dreamy photo of a water tower on top of a building

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Montreal post-rock band ctznship have just released a record of rare tracks titled Lost Loves (A Collection of Rarities). A mix of studio tracks, live recordings, demos and such, there are two songs on here of note to a dealer of Christmas tunes, “Holiday Lights” and “The New Year.” They may have been released yeaaars ago, as “Holiday Lights” was a b-side from their first record in 2013, which has since been extended to include “Holiday Lights.” Thus, I’m conflicted. I equally love discovering songs I missed, as well as hate that the song snuck by me for so long.

Christmas A Gogo and I have both been talking a big game about this whole shoegaze/dreampop Christmas genre that has exploded, and we may have found a (nearly) patient zero with “Holiday Lights.” Reading about the band, and this specific era of the band, they suggest that they were influence by Robyn, The Knife or Röyksopp as much as any rock band at this time. I hear that wall of sound and am left with… “really?” I certainly need to listen to the non-holiday material, but I’m on a time-crunch here. This song f*ing rocks though.

As for “The New Year,” we’ll see how burned out I am after Christmas as to whether I write about that one. But it’s pretty good too.

Bottom Line: Some more wonderful shoegaze Christmas for those of us who partake.

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Kristian Noel Pedersen – Bullshit & Gift Wrapping (2025)

A photo of a christmas tree, and a man sitting in a chair looking at the light up tree.

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I recently listened to a podcast featuring indie-Christmas legend Kristian Noel Pedersen (KNP), the always wonderful 12 Songs of Christmas hosted by Alex Rawls. It was a great conversation and a peek behind the curtain of our most prolific Christmas-creative. KNP has released sixteen albums of original Christmas music, and after his most recent trio of beautiful, hilarious, and genuinely touching records centered on the fictional, aging pop star Saul McCartney, I was under the impression he was planning to strip things back a bit. Sometimes plans change, though, because we’ve got a mini-album of six new songs (plus some voicemail interstitials), and if the first two tracks are a taste of what’s coming… consider me hungry.

The record opens with “Bullshit & Gift Wrapping,” which might be the best title for a Christmas song I’ve heard in ages. The track is packed with bitterness, profanity, jangling guitars, and—strangely, but in the best possible way—a Gin Blossoms vibe? I don’t know what I ate for dinner, but that’s the only comparison my brain wants to make right now. And I low-key love the Gin Blossoms, so I’m here for it.

KNP has also previewed the second track, “Christmas on Your Own,” where the guitars get fuzzier but the attitude—and profanity—stick around. He paints these small scenes across a few Christmases, following someone leaving a bad relationship and starting over. The song feels frayed at the edges, from the loose feel in the instrumentation to the lo-fi (well, lower-fi) vocals, and that roughness fits the emotional journey perfectly.

While we only have two tracks so far, any longtime reader will immediately clock track six: “Winter,” featuring vocals by Winterval, another prolific and supremely talented songwriter I’ve featured here many times. I absolutely cannot wait to hear that one.

The rest of the record drops on Friday, December 5th, along with probably every other major indie release of the season. Why? Bandcamp Friday—when Bandcamp doesn’t take a cut and the artists get every dollar (minus credit-card fees, I imagine). So add this one to your cart now… and wait until Friday to check out!

Bottom Line: Two songs in, and I’m singing the same songs of praise for the latest Kristian Noel Petersen joint.

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Elliot Maginot “Holy” (2025)

a dead on photo of Elliot Maginot's face, with Holy and his name written above it.

Audiogram
Buy: Bandcamp

There are some assumptions that one can simply assume. One of these assumptions is that I’m going to write about Elliot Maginot when he releases his yearly Christmas song. There is no mistaking a Maginot Christmas tune – it’s going to be lush, it’s going to be emotional, it’s going to feel both extremely present but of another time. Elliot’s 2025 release, “Holy,” is yet another wonderful addition to this top-tier Christmas talent. Elliot absolutely loves Christmas, as he notes in his introduction on Facebook: “This might not be THE Holy night, but HOLY, my new Christmas ditty is out at midnight. I keep writing these Christmas songs year after year, cause this shit really matters to me. Christmas doesn’t solve anything and it doesn’t miraculously make us better humans but it seems to be the only time of the year when are collectively giving a shot at kindness and togetherness so let’s take this shit seriously yah? Love you guys merry christmas”

That mix of hopefulness and reality Elliot expresses above, well, that is the essence of the song. This is best displayed as the song enters its last verse:

And I know you did not come here for a lesson
But sometimes I wonder if you’re even here at all
But come on don’t you know tis the season
The most wonderful season of all

I’m not waiting on no miracle
The bells will ring/the snow will fall
But It’s gotten talking about it
If you want a life you gotta live it now

I don’t believe no angels would ever come this way
But I don’t have an answer
Especially not today
No sacred book gonna sway me
I may be lost but I’m not crazy
Now I’m not quite sure what else to do
Well very merry christmas to you

Really great stuff, once again. Oddly, this is the first time I’ve ever listened to Elliot and felt a connection to Conor Oberst. Though “Holy’s” orchestration feels quite outside of Conor Oberst’s wheelhouse, there is a quality to their voices, an emotion that comes through, that I can’t believe I haven’t heard before…

Bottom Line: Another fantastic, unmistakably Elliot Maginot Christmas song.

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Klô Pelgag “Marie-Noël” (2025)

Secret City Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

I’m apparently back in 2022, when I was in my “somehow writing exclusively about French-language Christmas songs” phase. To be stereotypically American, I don’t speak other languages, and French just sounds so damn nice to the ear. I suppose that’s why the one language I do have some experience with—German—doesn’t often appear here on Christmas Underground… it just doesn’t have the same musical quality. I know, I know… how obvious. Well, buckle up while I do my best to share a song and not embarrass myself once again.

I’ll check out pretty much anything on Secret City Records. When something new drops, I explore. Thus, I’ve found myself over the past year picking up all of Klô Pelgag’s (aka Chloé Pelletier-Gagnon’s) records, and I’m only about one away from having them allllll. Again, I largely have no clue what the heck she’s singing… but I absolutely love the music. And to make it even better—she has Christmas songs.

Looking at Klô Pelgag’s holiday catalogue, they all share one quality: a more spare, classic production, rather than the upbeat alt-pop found on many of her records. So while the vibe is more straightforward, the result is no less spectacular.

Klô Pelgag began her holiday releases with 2019’s “Toute seule pour Noël,” which I believe to be the only original she’s released so far (unless she has another hidden on a proper record). Should you wish to translate it, you’ll find it’s quite a sad song—as the title “All Alone for Christmas” suggests. Her voice begins accompanied only by piano, but then the cello slips in and the emotion builds. It’s beautiful if you can get over the sadness, and sad Christmas songs are largely what I peddle here at CU.

She added to her holiday catalogue again with a cover of “Le sentier de neige,” or “The Snowy Path,” once again using a sparse piano arrangement. Originally released in 1964 by Les Classels, this Christmas waltz is about a couple in love who shared a kiss on a snowy path in the woods. Getting mushy in the mush!

Her most recent holiday track is a beautiful cover of “Marie-Noël,” first released by Robert Charlebois in 1967. You may recognize this song from Elliot Maginot’s 2023′ cover, which I obviously also recommend. Judging by the sheer number of covers, it seems to be a true Québécois Christmas classic. Klô Pelgag continues her sparse, piano-driven approach here, once again singing with an emotion that transcends language barriers.

Bottom Line: I think we all can agree that Klô Pelgag should release an entire solo piano Christmas record… right?

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Stoylov & Chloé Jara-Buto – biscuit (2024)

Fabrique de Noël
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

In the past 24 hours, I’ve heard about three notable French-language releases. All are worth considering and may very well end up in front of your eyes here on Christmas Underground. However, they all gave me that urge to find out what the heck they were saying. That’s both a good and a bad thing—because when I know what a song is about, it can make me feel more secure in my opinion of it. However… what I love most is when I connect with the music in such a way that I don’t even need a translation.

Montreal’s Stoylov & Chloé Jara-Buto managed to slide into that latter category with their gorgeous 2024 EP, biscuit. I immediately knew I had to share this record with you all—no matter what they’re actually singing about—because this record is about a feeling. It’s loose, warm, and short. They left me wanting more, and honestly, they should always leave you wanting more.

Now, I did do a little translating—not of the lyrics, but of the write-up Stoylov posted on the Bandcamp album page. I found myself oddly emotional reading these two paragraphs, because Stoylov, like many of us here in the alternative Christmassphere, was transformed by the beauty that is Low’s Christmas. However, unlike me, Stoylov wasn’t compelled to start making underground Christmas mixes… he has genuine musical talent, so he found himself with the urge to make some Christmas music of his own. I’ve taken the liberty of posting the translation below:

Recently, while browsing Bandcamp, I stumbled upon Low’s Christmas album. The urge to release some holiday music was simply… irresistible. I decided to work on it, and being quite openly a huge fan of Chloé Jara-Buteau’s music, the idea of ​​joining forces came to me, an idea she enthusiastically shared. So, it was in the hustle and bustle of the famous Rouen studios in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve that we got to work.

I had a couple of demos lying dormant on my hard drive, demos saturated with glockenspiel and sleigh bells. They were useful for getting started. I’m not really used to having company in the embryonic stages of composition: I’m a bit chaotic, sloppy, and capricious. A real little prince. Besides, I’m constantly taking breaks to smoke outside, a really bad habit I’m having a hard time breaking. We still managed pretty well though: three songs and a cover of… Aphex Twin.

Bottom Line: The magic of Low, folks. As if we couldn’t owe them even more—they gave birth to my mix, this blog, and now this beautiful EP. Go forth, listen to biscuit, then pop on Low’s Christmas.

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Sister Ray “Christmas” (2025)

cover of Sister Ray's believer album, which is a blurry image of the singer on a green background.

Royal Mountain Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music

Canada man. I feel each year, one country runs up the score, and this year has me looking north. I keep tabs on Sister Ray, as I own her 2022 album, Communion, a beautiful and vivid breakup record with a fleeting mention of a Christmas tree on “Visions” (for you Christmas mixers with VERY lax rules).” Earlier this year, the musical project of Toronto’s Ella Coyes released a great new record, Believer. I absolutely add it to the listen pile, but when I see a track called “Christmas” on her new album, my ears are hers. I love her voice, and the orchestration with the droning bassoon baseline (that has to be a bassoon, either real or synthesized, right?). However, these lyrics are the star. Some lines made me smile, though the kind of smile I wasn’t quite sure of – a sort of feeling that the line might just be more cutting than you realize. There is a moment in every verse that both feels so loving and sorrowful at the same time, that I find myself spinning. I’ve been trying to sit with this song, figure it out on a deeper level before I write about it… but I got antsy. Maybe you all can help.

Snow’s light
For a cynic you sure love Christmas time.
I think I might believe in Jesus Christ
At least til things cool down
Carrying a New Testament around
Like a knife
Like a fence in the foreground
Protecting my house

I played that song just to hear you sing along
I love your voice
The way it sounds with mine
I keep your ribbons hanging from my ceiling
I would celebrate anything
Come into my house

In another life
I’m dressed in white
I’ve been your wife
What a beautiful child, what a beautiful sound
Your eyes, my mouth
Coming in from our house
Coming in from our house

Bottom Line: This is the kind of song that keeps you coming back.

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Al Nicol & Evelyne Brochu “On Christmas” (2024)

a painting of a snowy scene in the mountains

Self Released
Buy: 7Digital (FLAC/MP3) | Apple Music

Last year, Nashville-based Canadian singer/songwriter Al Nicol and fellow north-of-the-borderer, actress and singer Evelyne Brochu teamed up on “On Christmas,” a great slide guitar and brass-laced Christmas tune. Happily, I came upon this song because Al Nicol recently released a track with Hiss Golden Messenger on it – and this time of year, I click through on EVERYBODY. So here I am, standing in the kitchen, poking at my phone and listening to his excellent new single, “Only Hoping,” and my eyes widen. This song is likely to be good… and it was. A short love song, with church and too much wine. The orchestration is beautiful, the lyrics are original, and clocks in at about 2:30. Bullseye.

Bottom Line: Christmas 2024, and Al and Evelyne are singing a wonderful Christmas love song. Christmas 2025, and I hope I didn’t just send ICE to a young Canadian songwriter’s home.

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Kristian Noel Pedersen – Saul McCartney’s ‘Sauliday Party​!​’ (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

How do you end an era? With a big party, of course! Kristian Noel Pedersen (KNP for brevity’s sake) has delivered his 16th original Christmas album, Saul McCartney’s ‘Sauliday Party​!​’, and boy what a journey this has been. For the uninitiated, Saul McCartney is KNP’s imaginary 60’s pop icon, whose ego has been wreaking havoc through two previous records. I have enjoyed this run immensely, penning rave reviews of every installment… and here we are yet again, with the culmination of the Saul McCartney trilogy. RAVE ON!

How the heck does KNP find the time to put these records together?? The production is so fantastic, so much grander than the bedroom pop that a yearly indiepop project like this would suggest. A perfect example would be the beautiful, brass-infused “What Are You Doing (on Christmas Eve?).” This song has all the pop sensibility and production of a vintage Christmas classic, and is one of those songs that I could see being picked up by some big singer to make KNP a pile of money.

The album’s transition from the vintage-inspired sounds of Saul to KNP’s indiepop begins with the Randy Newman-penned, “Snow.” The bouncing synth lines definitely pinch those “Wonderful Christmastime” receptors, as they invade the 60’s pop production. A perfect lead-in for what may be my highlight of the record, the indiepop perfection of the synthy “Christmas Isn’t Christmas Without You.” The songwriting is absolutely spot-on here. KNP takes a classic Christmas trope, the whole “missing someone at Christmas” scene, and somehow writes this incredibly fresh-sounding, upbeat song, and doesn’t reuse familiar “lonely at Christmas” lyrics. So many songs serve us near-lyrical plagiarism, dressed in different musical stylings… but KNP has found a wonderful new POV here.

Finally, the wonderful album closer, “Silver, Never Gold,” where Smiths guitar lines marry beautifully with those classic, Saul-era brass touches. This album is a stylistic journey, wonderfully narrated by the truly delightful Saul McCartney (Harlan Guthrie) throughout, and this final song closes out the Saul McCartney trilogy perfectly.

This record is a wonderful finale to one of my absolute favorite Christmas music projects I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing and I can’t wait to see what Kristian and his crew of merry collaborators have for us next.

Bottom Line: I don’t want to wear you all down with more effusive language… you read the review above if you got here. KNP is on fire.

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Kestrels “Last Christmas” (2024)

Darla
Buy: Darla (MP3/FLAC) | Bandcamp

I am thoroughly sick of most popular Christmas songs. Somehow… “Last Christmas” is not in that category. It is likely my love of George Michael that keeps me from going full Grinch. However, most versions bore me to death – the same old same old. Thankfully, Halifax’s Kestrels have found a fuzzy, droning bassline that has given me permission to enjoy this song once again.

Bottom Line: Kestrels deliver a quick and easy thumbs up from a grumbly Christmas blogger.

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EDIT: Looks like this isn’t the first run with “Last Christmas!” Here is Kestrels member Chad Peck from 8 years ago 🙂