A-HA’s lead singer Magne Furuholmen has released his third solo-album, White Xmas Lies, which is an album with a different take on Christmas. It’s all about loneliness in the darkest period of the year. We’re tempted to say, White Xmas Lies is the most miserable Christmas album ever.
Magne Furuholmen is most known for his work with A-ha and co-writing the group’s most famous hit ‘Take on Me’. And now, as a solo singer, he has released an album about a dark and melancholic Christmas. The album contains 15 original songs with titles like A Punch-Up on Boxing Day, Hells Bells, The Season to be Melancholy and Dark Days. The album also includes two surprising cover-versions.
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‘White Xmas Lies’ From Norway
Magne says White Xmas Lies is more a winter album than a Christmas album, a kind of a Nordic take on Christmas that would somehow be meaningful. A little bit more musical quality to Christmas celebrations.
‘I am lucky to have a family around me, but for many people, Christmas is a rough time, and a harsh reminder of loss, longing, and crippling loneliness. I wanted to try and make an album which would be meaningful also to those who fall outside our commercial Christmas frenzy – an album which looks at the more melancholic, darker sides to Christmas: broken family ties, things we sweep under the rug, resentment hidden behind fake, jocular smiles – an album for holiday contemplation, not just sentimental décor,’ he says.
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The gloomiest Christmas album ever
Christmas is the most miserable time of the year. Songs about family punch-ups and crippling loneliness feature on White Christmas Lies, the gloomiest Christmas album ever. Christmas is supposed to be a happy family thing, but for people who for some reason don’t share the sentiment, it might seem like a materialistic hyper-fest where they don’t feel connected.
‘I am ashamed to be part of a Christmas which these days seems to be mostly about buying more and more shit that no one needs or even really wants…a tacky, superficial celebration in stark contrast to the original Christmas message of hope, charity, and compassion,’ says Furuholmen.
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An album for maximum misery
White Xmas Lies is a double album for maximum misery and includes “broken family ties, things we sweep under the rug and resentment hidden behind fake, jocular smiles”. Christmas sneaks up on us, because we’re all part of the world of entertainment, the world of consumerism. Magne says he wanted to make this record as a gift to people who otherwise wouldn’t feel included. He wanted to describe as many situations as possible that we can all relate to, but that we somehow sweep under the carpet at Christmas time.
The result is a double-album with a rich blend of unusual and thoughtful Christmas material, ranging from brooding introspection and piercing observation, to hopeful, uplifting songs.
You can read about the different formats and order here.
‘White Xmas Lies’ From Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg