Photo: Max Knight
Words: Linn Branson
You know that feeling, when the big yearly event comes round each December, and things maybe aren't so easy and festive in certain relationships....well spare a thought for London-based singer-songwriter - and bass player and songwriter of White Lies - Charles Cave here who seems to be up in the air as to whether he'll still be in one come January.
There's a bit of the melancholy 'Last Christmas' 80s synthness about 'This Fucking Time Of Year' - released on December 16 digitally through AWAL (Kobalt) - but in a good way (well, good for the listener anyway), that you can easily sing along to as you sip a small glass of eggnog and ponder on whether it all came right in the end.
"I don't wanna lose you, not again / At this fucking time of year / And so I ask myself, I really ask myself / Am I still your man? / If you're gonna leave / Go on and leave / Leave my heart in the cold snow / When you go." How could anyone possibly do such a thing at Christmas - for the baby Jesus' sake, tell him if he's still your man, you Christmas spoiler, you, whoever you are.
"I think it is every musician’s duty to have a stab at a Christmas song, if only once," says Cave. "The festive season is full of all the emotions that fuel the best songwriting at all other times of the year, so digging into those complicated family dynamics, the bleak weather, the reflecting of the year gone by can be hugely inspiring for an emotive pop song. Christmas, visually, is all about decoration and sickly colours, so it felt appropriate to make a very rich sounding 80’s ballad to reflect that. I hope this is a song that pulls on the heart-strings with a wry grin whilst simultaneously rising a fist to the air above ones mullet."
This is one occasion where you want to shout "buy this record!" - or at least, a dating line subscription, for Charles who, one fears, may well be in need of soon. Although as this is a rerelease from last year, we're hoping it's all sorted for this Yule. Either way, it's a fucking good tune.
Happy Christmas.
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