Tis The Damn Season: A Vague Holiday Mixtape

My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Ursula Muñoz-Schaefer assembles a soundtrack to the wintertime that may or may not be connected to the holidays. Read Ursula’s thoughts on each track and listen along to the Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

Growing up, Christmas at my house was at least two months long. Festive decorations went up the day after Thanksgiving and stayed in place until mid-January. There’s a coziness and comfort in candles, stockings, colored lights, advent calendars and even Panettone cake—which I’ve never adored but also never pass up, because it puts me in a good mood. We all take the holiday very seriously in my family, which is why it surprises people when I tell them we’re also not very religious.

Perhaps it’s because of this that Christmas music tends to be hit-or miss for me. As someone who isn’t necessarily a believer nor a non-believer, I’m mostly indifferent to the religious classics. The funner tunes can get repetitive too; there are only so many times I can listen to “Let It Snow” before I never want to hear it again. Following the release of Taylor Swift’s autumnal Red (Taylor’s Version) however, I’ve found myself obsessed with songs that fit the seasonal vibe; ones you can listen to all year-round but also just hit the sweet spot during the holidays.

The following is a meticulously organized list of songs that fit the late fall and winter vibe, for those who celebrate and those who don’t.

1. “Come to Mama” by Lady Gaga

A good mixtape should start strong, and Lady Gaga’s “Come to Mama” is a bop and a half. It’s also ostensibly the most Christmas-sounding song on here, with instrumentals and chord progressions similar to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and other holiday pop classics. At a time of endless cruelty and division, its kind message is also much needed.

2. “River” by Joni Mitchell

Leave it to Joni to sample “Jingle Bells” and make it sound good. Although many consider “River” a holiday staple, this melancholy stream of consciousness off her quintessential Blue album merely takes place during the countdown to Christmas. Those last days of the year tend to yield bittersweet sentiments as it is. What’s normally cause for celebration can be a reminder of loneliness for others, and to anyone whose life is at a standstill, the holidays may just represent the illusive shadow of time running out.

3. “Turpentine” by Brandi Carlile

Nothing says Christmas like gathering around the tree with your sibling to open presents. That is, unless you recently fell out with them, and your relationship reminds you of the toxic tree oil. This folksy tune by Brandi Carlile has it all: fine aromas (“these days go to waste like wine that’s turned to turpentine”), family shenanigans (“I watched you grow away from me in photographs”), seasonal affective disorder (“I started losing sleep and gaining weight”), and brimming instrumentals that stop this gorgeous tune from sucking the joy out of the holidays.

4. “The Party” by St. Vincent

Talk about atmosphere. St. Vincent doesn’t just paint a scene when she describes sucking the alcohol out of ice cubes and overstaying her welcome at a party that went sour; the song also just sounds like something that would play during the setting it takes place in. Is it really a holiday reception without at least a few awkward encounters? This ain’t a Christmas song, but it might as well be.

5. “‘tis the damn season” by Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has so many winter-themed songs in her discography, she could compile them into a full-length holiday record if she wanted to. Never more so than her ninth studio album evermore, the “adventurous, fun younger sister” of her Grammy-winning folklore, and the seasonally depressive answer to that album’s summer heartbreak vibe. “‘Tis the damn season” may not be everyone’s cup of hot cocoa, but it’s certainly mine; a simple, ruminative ballad about the one that got away that pairs well with CAROL (2015) and crying.

6. “If We Make It Through December” by Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers may be an atheist, but she can make one hell of a Christmas cover. Originally, this song by country singer Merle Haggard was much more upbeat, offering a hint of optimism to its story about a working-class family who can’t afford a proper Christmas. Like “River,” this song is not so much a Christmas tune (Haggard made it the opening track on a non-Christmas album), as it is a song about experiencing hardships in late-December. Bridgers’ stripped-down piano ballad is much more sobering, with “everything will be alright, I know” sounding more like a white lie the narrator tells their children to lift their spirits during the holidays.

7. “Winters Love” by Animal Collective

It’s weird to say this about a freak folk song by some Maryland-based hipsters, but the Spanish guitar arrangement in “Winters Love” reminds me a bit of the aguinaldo music I grew up listening to this time of the year. Complete with unintelligible carol-like vocals in the intro, I’ve had this weird little ode to coming of age and wintertime on repeat lately. And hey—it’s happy!

8. “A Hazy Shade of Winter” by Simon & Garfunkel

It just wouldn’t be a proper winter playlist without this classic. Other takes of this song exist, but I’ll go with the original, 1966 version because its folk sound fits the rest of this tracklist better than the harder-edged rock covers from the Bangles and Gerard Way that have followed.

Also, who doesn’t love Simon & Garfunkel? Paul Simon’s lyrics about aging compare getting older to the seasons changing in a really beautiful way, while still evoking vivid imagery about the season we hold near and dear.

9. “Winter Winds” by Mumford & Sons

Critic Fraser McAlpine of BBC was onto something when he called this “an amazing Christmas carol equivalent.” In fact, I’ve heard this song—which is really about the ups and downs of a chaotic relationship—described as a holiday favorite many times. I’ll say it again: “Winter Winds” is not a Christmas song. Does it still feel wrong to listen to it during any other time of the year? Absolutely.

10. “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes

This song is nothing but bells and rattles and choirs and cute imagery, and I love it more than anything. Think of this and “Winters Love” as warm interludes to break up the depressing bits of this playlist.

11. “evermore” by Taylor Swift (feat. Bon Iver)

It’s literally impossible for me to create a playlist without including Taylor Swift at least twice. Many songs from her aforementioned evermore album fit this spiritual holiday theme, including the title track — her melancholic, much celebrated second duet with Bon Iver. Much like her extended version of “All Too Well” which took the world by storm last month, “evermore” is told in chapters marked by the passing of fall and the arrival of winter.

12. “Next Year” by Two Door Cinema Club

Irish rock band Two Door Cinema Club released this track off of their second album Beacon as a single in February 2013—so needless to say, it’s not a holiday tune. And yet, I thought it was one for the longest time.

Was it the stagey background hum during the first verse? The way “Next Year” kinda sounds like “New Year?”

The way it’s about a long-distance relationship but the lyrics could just as easily be about a father apologizing to his kids for not being there during the holidays? Was that too specific?

Whatever. It’s sentimental but fun, it evokes nostalgia, and it’s the perfect track to end the festivities with.