Released on November 17, 2016
HWY-041
Digital
Purchase Album
Songs
- Christmastime is Here
- La Peregrinación
Notes
A two song holiday single to celebrate the end of This Is The Kit's career-making tour cycle behind their Aaron Dessner-produced LP Bashed Out.
"Christmas Time Is Here" is a classic from the Peanuts' 1965 animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas, written by Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi. "La Peregrinacion" (which translates as "Pilgrimage") is an English translation of the Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez's holiday choral tune.
"A total tune," writes the band's frontperson Kate Stables about "Christmas Time Is Here" before continuing: "It's always a pleasure to sing a lovely melody. Plus Vince Guaraldi is a tour van favorite of ours, especially of our drummer jamie Whitby-Coles, who is playing the Joao Gilberto inspired gentle high hat percussion on this recording. A melancholy contrast to the upbeat and more Biblical Ramirez track. Christmas is often a time of thoughtful reflection or a bit of an emotional dip for some people so it's nice to have a go at expressing or acknowledging that."
"La Peregrinacion" she says is " One of mine and Jesse's favourite tracks from one of our favourite records ever. An Ariel Ramirez record with La Misa Criolla on one side and his Navidad Nuestra on the other side. The original is in Spanish. We found a very loose translation and went with it. Nativity lyrics are always tricky. It's best to just embrace the Christmas spirit and go with it."
Of the cover she explains "Christmas can be a good time for indulging in a dose or two of nostalgia, so i thought it'd be fun to use some old family Christmas photos for this release. Christmas with my twin sister and two older sisters was the the bestest of times, so it's nice to revisit those times, when we all fitted under one roof together. "
The Peanuts tune was originally an Amazon exclusive commissioned by the site for their All Is Bright playlist and released on November 12, 2014. It is now available from all digital retailers.