Laurence Owen

I decided to write and release a Christmas single in time for the 2012 holiday season, and Kith & Kin was the result. It tells the story of a hideously deformed evil twin enjoying Christmas up in the attic, watching the family down below, and wondering if, one year, he might be invited down for Christmas dinner. It was intended as a reaction to both the mawkishly sentimental Christmas songs of the 1950s, and more materialistic pop songs of later years.



My aim was to make a track that sounded like a kind of Frankenstein's monster of Christmas songs, imitating swing-jazz standards, 80s synth-pop hits and classic Christmas carols all at the same time, coming together to make something that sounds a little bit unhinged.



The track starts with a re-harmonisation of the carol O Come, All Ye Faithful, before launching into a chirpy Paul McCartney style synth-pop verse, and a chorus inspired by Nat King Cole and other crooners of the genre, with nods to Frosty The Snowman and Fly Me To The Moon.



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