Singles for the Season - Part One

Nourallah Brothers - Christmastime - Written, performed, and produced entirely by the brothers, Christmastime feels intimate from the moment it begins. The instrumentation is beautifully restrained, built on a soft acoustic guitar, subtle drums, and just enough melody to create a warm and nostalgic feel to the whole track. The song is deceptively simple, built around gentle melodies and lyrics that conjure the sparkle and ache of the holidays. There’s a sweetness at its core, but also a quiet undercurrent, the kind you only catch when you’ve lived long enough to know how fragile those moments can be. It's a quiet ode to reconciliation, nostalgia, and the strange tenderness of siblings finding their way back to each other. It glows softly, like a light left on in the window for someone returning home. Says Faris Nourallah (who makes up 1/2 the duo along with his brother Salim) about the song: "At the time of the writing of 'Christmastime,' I was dealing with some relatively dark personal issues. I found myself drawn to topics that were sweet, simple, pure, and joyous. A cathartic way to combat the darkness. 'Christmastime' was written with no conscious thought of writing a Christmas song." Check out the result below... & Ho Ho Ho!

-----------

aron! - cozy you - aron! (& yes, the all lower-case lettering is his thing) is channeling something timeless through a modern lens, like Chet Baker, but with a social media following and better knitwear. A wonderful assist on the vocals from the talented Hohnen Ford as well... This blip of a song is short enough to leave you wanting more, but that's kind of the point. Cozy you doesn't overstay its welcome. Yes, it's jazz, but it's a cool 2025/2026 kind of jazz! Here it is:

-----------

Alexis Cunningham & Eric Bazilian - Santa's in the Parking Lot - These two Philly peeps teamed up a couple of Christmases ago to create a song called "Let it Feel Like Christmas" which was a bit of a repeat-player in our household... So we were thrilled when this dynamic duo returned again this season with a tune about a wayward Santa. Yeah, it casts some aspersions towards the jolly old elf, but he somehow comes out okay on the other end on this fun, goofy little tune that you'll keep playing over in your head! Check it out:

-----------

Sully Bright - Holiday - Nashville-based Americana-folk singer-songwriter Sully Bright, has released a very cool & somewhat melancholy tune for the season called "Holiday." In a recent interview to promote the song, Sully described the creation of the song this way: "Each year for the holidays, I travel home to North Carolina to be with family. Experiencing the holidays in your 20s is a funny thing – some traditions from childhood remain, while others have fallen away as loved ones have passed. Growing up with three brothers who each live in different places, it’s so rare to find my whole family in the same room together. When I came back to Nashville after Christmas of 2024, I started to write 'Holiday' as a reflection of these sentiments. 'Holiday, won’t you stay and take your time, 'cause it won’t be long until we’re all gone again.'

Recently, my mom found a box of old VHS tapes, and I decided to get them transferred. I sorted through a decade of footage consisting of Christmas at Nana and Paw Paw’s, snowy days with my brothers, joint birthday parties, weekends at the lake, and exciting Christmas mornings. Memories flooded in, and the tapes inspired me to finish writing 'Holiday.' 'So here’s to the holidays and sitting face to face, with all we’ve lost along the way we’re here together.' Years roll by, and the holidays will always look different. We’ll lose family, and we’ll gain family, and the beautiful part is that, each year, we can still choose to come together and celebrate. "

A beautiful sentiment & a lovely song as a result - You can listen to it here:

-----------

Okay, that's part one of this catch-all... Look for part two to post sometime tomorrow - Cool?