mi mye ‘I’m Dreaming Of A’

Olivia here. In the spirit of keeping the festive feeling alive ahead of our Killing Moon Xmas Party tomorrow, I have a Christmas themed track for you today. This is no ‘Jingle Bells‘ however, and in true Killing Moon spirit, the message of peace and goodwill to all men is tinged with the kind of despondency that comes after one sherry too many. For a lot of us, Christmas isn’t purely a time of joy – it’s also a time when strained family relationships are pushed to the limit, when those who should be here with us are not, and when childhood neuroses come out to play. Going back to ones’ hometown can be a struggle as well. Here is the place you were dragged up, where you forged friendships and fell out with said friends, where you maybe had your first fleeting encounter with someone you fancied at school, and where you stalked triumphant around the playground and skulked in the hedgerows when it all went wrong. All at once, this place is everything you are, and everything you are not, and that is scary to a lot of people. That one place can have so much meaning and yet feel completely alien to you (or at least, you might feel like an alien when you are there). I think it’s hard, as a sort of functioning adult, to be reminded of a time when you were all teenage angst, and some of us do regress when we return home for Christmas -whether you become moodier or allow your mother to coddle you for a few days. Christmas is happysad and no-one encapsulates that better than Wakefield based band mi mye in their seasonal single ‘I’m dreaming of a‘. A tender and fragile performance from lead singer and lyricist Jamie Lockhart, this track melds simple guitar and synth melodies with almost spoken word vocals in a way that is reminiscent of the work of Sparklehorse and Bright Eyes. Think wedding band at the end of a long night playing to a few last stragglers (in the best possible way). It’s tentative, sensitive, and the perfect festive song for anyone who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus. Have a happysad Christmas everyone.