Kristian Noel Pedersen knows "Everything’s The Same Except It Isn’t” this Christmas

It's starting to feel like no Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada can be complete without the input of Toronto's Kristian Noel Pedersen. For the last 12 years he's been spending his December evenings recording full albums of new seasonal songs titled A Kristian Kinda Christmas. I suppose that's what happens if you're a musician with a "Christmas Birthday". Last year he even found time to cover Hanson’s Snowed In Christmas album in full as well. As you do.

We were all set to include “Every Day Feels Like Christmas”, a buzzy highlight of last year’s compilation that calls to mind the classic pop-rock crunch of The Weakerthans and Jim Bryson - until Kristian let us know he had a new track ready to go. “Everything’s The Same Except It Isn’t” is an anthem for 2020’s very peculiar kind of Christmas. Throwing in nods to traditional carols in throw-away melody lines (see if you can spot a new reference each listen), the track even repurposes a slightly tweaked refrain from a previous single “Everything Will Be Alright On Christmas Day”.

2021 will see Kristian release a non-Christmas album for the first time, under the name Heritage Festival. Before that, you can catch KNP as part of the Wavelength Christmas Celebration on Youtube on 17 December.