I’m going to get the obvious out of the way. I absolutely love Christmas. I adore spending time with the people I care about, and as much as I’m not a huge believer in the commercialization of Christmas I am a huge believer in “I love giving people gifts, so capitalism can shut up about it and not bother me”. That part about commercialization is quite important to me as well, because I have strong feelings about it’s general impact on Christmas music. Later this month you’ll get to read all about my strong opinions about how we sucked the soul out of Christmas and ruined Christmas music as a result, but to my pleasant surprise all that was undermined last night by an unlikely hero.

Colliding With Mars’s the christmas song is a double single that isn’t tainted by LA’s torrent of seasonal love songs. It’s not 2 pop songs dressed up with a Santa hat, it’s actually the complete opposite, being a wonderfully composed pair of songs about what’s really important: valuing the people you get to spend that special time with. There’s no talk of Christmas heartbreak, but there’s plenty of mention of just being in the right place with the right people. The titular track creates this amazingly warm atmosphere through a combination of soft acoustic textures, and modern production and distorted pulses that feel reminiscent of Vertigo era EDEN. All this paired with the gorgeous and smooth delivery of the vocals makes for a track that just leaves you feeling good inside. It evokes fleeting memories of sitting by a fireplace with a warm drink with someone important to you, whether that be a lover, a family member, or a close friend.

The second single christmas, I love ditches most of the electronic elements and really dials back to the feel of slow Christmas classics. The smooth jazz drums layered over a soft compressed piano creates a timeless atmosphere somehow even warmer than the prior track, and something I found particularly interesting is how the vocals manage to hit on both the love of connecting through the holidays as well as being grateful for Santa. To to honest with you I first heard this song at 3am when doing my weekly skim for new releases while half asleep, and I fixated on the chorus. Hard. Like too hard honestly. When hearing the snippet Spotify provides it’s easy to not take the repeated “I love christmas” seriously, but in the larger context of the song I honestly find it endearing and far more genuine than it could even seem out of context. I rambled on about that line on social media, but honestly the video undersells the entire project, because I honestly believe this album is incredibly heartfelt, and as much as most artists put a piece of themselves into every song there’s something about this project that feels straight from the heart.

Colliding With Mars is one of the most well verse producers I can name. If you ever delve through his side project dakota dogma you’ll get a full glimpse into both the chaos and range held within one man, especially when held in contrast to the Colliding With Mars catalog. Being able to go from 2k Marin to Clementine, and from MEDIA IS GOD to the christmas song, there’s very few artists who could execute each of those distinctly different vibes with such ease, and yet once again in a brand new way we’ve been shown a new side of what one producer can do. It’s something special, and so is the Christmas spirit at play in this project. So let’s celebrate and get festive. Go get all cozy, grab a warm drink and someone you care about, and give this one a listen as we eagerly await the lights, gifts, and love of the holiday.