Stars have shared a beautifully melancholic festive song in ‘Chrismas Anyway’. We’re huge fans of Christmas songs here at Spectral Nights, especially ones that evoke the sadness of the season, and this is a fine addition to the list that includes Mud’s ‘Lonely This Christmas’, Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ and East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day’. Stars say they hope this song – which they will split proceeds with with the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal – will strike a chord with anyone who finds it tough going home for the holidays: ‘What is it about these days that makes us feel we have to go home to face the loved ones we simply cannot ever be at peace with? We have no idea, but we do know that sometimes a simple song can get you through at least a few minutes of holiday hell.’

With powerful and evocative descriptions of the journey to the airport and thoughts of what’s to come – ‘Two years since we made it, two years without the fight, two years without the endless game of trying to get it right’ – the stirring music contrasts with the bittersweet lyrics about trying to placate everyone: ‘So place the star atop the tree and hope it makes us happy, let’s hide it all and deck the hall, we’re having Christmas anyway’. This is followed by observations on ageing, charity and the return journey: ‘Boxing Day arrives, we’re headed home now. The sky is grey, the air is cold but we got through it somehow’.