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Last Christmas: a threnody for George Michael

by At Swim

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about

On Christmas Day 2019 it will be 3 years since George Michael passed away. As young boys growing up in South East London in the early 1980s, Wham represented escape, fashion, excitement and the thrill of impending teenage years. Whether you wanted to find Club Tropicana, be a Young Gun, or yearned for Freedom we were woken from suburban grey.

And then again, just when we thought we’d grown out of this lightweight pop our heads were turned again, by the song and videos for Faith and I Want Your Sex. George had a habit of doing that - crafting songs and performances that made you want to engage.

We don’t know what magic George’s voice would have been lent to next, so we reach back. Last Christmas is a song of heartbreak wrapped in an uptempo take on Jingle Bells. The main melody, when played slowly, reveals an even greater longing and a deeper heartache. Our threnody, captured in a live take, crackles with static like a radiophonic Babel trying to make sense of Christmases past, present and future, with and without loved ones, nostalgic or present, dreamlike or real.
RIP George.

credits

released December 1, 2019
Recorded live at Spacelab in November 2019.
Edited and mastered at the Gatehouse.
All instruments and treatments Ben Ackland and Paul Gathercole.

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At Swim London, UK

London-based duo described as ‘the archetypal British odd couple’ who make ‘moving mood music for the melancholic.’ Guitar and fretless bass patterns woven into abstract sound layers, punctuated with live sampling. A bouillabaisse of possible memories. ... more

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