Music you should be listening to right now:
The holidays can be a bit overwhelming. Wonderful moments, of course, but also a bit of an overdose. The abundance of joy can seem forced, or actually be forced. The time of year is especially hard on those that are dealing with "big feelings" - toddler code for the kind of emotion that overwhelms your capabilities. Making it through these 6 weeks of complex emotional moments, high activity and high stress is a significant burden. It certainly helps us understand the willingness to participate in the abstinences of January, from food, from alcohol, the attraction to resolutions.
But that doesn't help us today, with three weeks to go, and Mariah Carey being shot at our ears from every available speaker. Music can set a mood and living in a badly scored soundtrack is a type of cognitive dissonance that just exacerbates the feelings of otherness, loss, apprehension, self-doubt everyone struggles with at times.
It's always seemed part of the enduring greatness of the “Charlie Brown Christmas OST” by Guaraldi is the melancholy, the undertones of wistfulness, and recognition of greater more complicated emotions in the season. Like adding bitters to bourbon balance is key. No traditionally Christmas song captures it better than Track 5 Side 1; “Christmas Time Is Here”: (instrumental).
If you grew up in the United States, you were almost certainly marinated in religious music at the holidays. As such, you may find that some religious non holiday music speaks to you at a deeper level than you would have expected. Try Penderecki's “Credo”. You might find it sounds exactly like what you think the holidays sound like in movies. Throw it on your AirPods at the grocery store and live a mini film as you shop. If you enjoy this, try some Arco Pärt.
The third one is a curve ball. Frankly, sometimes the holidays are awful, as the onslaught of demands to create perfect moments for your kids, manage yourself, visitors, and cook nonstop add up. It's hard to get a moment to recognize that you just might be needing to let your inner self indulge a little bit. 2006's “Return to Cookie Mountain” has the beat to keep you accomplishing the endless house cleaning and end of year TPS reports. And the guitar distortion will hopefully block another freaking repeat of the Carol of the Bells.
Holiday Bonus: Name an album you forget ISN'T a Christmas album. Iron and Wine & Calexico's “In the Reins” sounds exactly like how the holidays feel. No matter what you say.