Remy Bond “Christmas in Kokomo” (2024)

Self Released?
Buy:
Stream (so far)

Half the fun—and the struggle—of having a hobby and a website like this silly one is the search. I love and hate it equally. Still, the rush of finding a great song is real—you know the feeling. I hate to admit I can often judge a book by its cover, but… years of experience suggest I usually can. So when someone defies my inner bias, well, I find that delightful.

Which brings me to New York–based singer-songwriter Remy Bond, whose image is a mix of Sabrina Carpenter and Paris Hilton, sent back in time with Lana Del Rey to hang out with the Ronettes. Remy’s been a child actress and a child reality TV chef (no joke), but over the past few years, she’s been steadily working in the NYC music scene—eventually signing with Warner Records in February of this year.

So far, that bio and the major-label connection don’t exactly scream Christmas Underground material, do they? Well, screw that—I don’t have enough readers to maintain an image anyway!

Remy dropped a Spectoresque Christmas single last December, “Christmas in Kokomo,” that’s damn enjoyable—though complicated by the fact that it’s impossible to buy and hard to stream. Spotify? Nope. Apple Music? Nope. YouTube? Yes. SoundCloud? Yup. Super weird that this genuinely great single is, by all accounts, “unreleased,” though I suspect it’s primed to resurface this holiday season with a major label behind it.

Look at me! Covering the big leagues! We all know I’ll be back to writing about weird cocaine Christmases from New Zealand tomorrow….

Bottom Line: I’m pretty down with this retro futurism.

LISTEN