Fickle Friends’ newest release, and their first ever Christmas track ‘My Favourite Day’ is a love song to feelings of nostalgia and reminiscence. The homage to childhood festive rituals and familial traditions takes centre stage in this song, making for pure Christmas sweetness in just three and a half minutes. In an Instagram post announcing their reasoning behind creating ‘My Favourite Day,’ the band wrote: ‘We asked our fans to send in some of their own stories and we kinda pieced together a narrative from all of those.’ The fact the band’s chose to include their fans’ memories of such a wholesome time of year speaks to their strong connection with their listeners. It really strengthens the meaning of family coming together and building the foundation for a festive song such as this one.

As far as Fickle Friends’ synth-pop goes, ‘My Favourite Day’ is a much more mellowed version of their classic 80s sound. Lead singer Natti’s smooth and tame vocals alongside the soft piano chord accompaniments during the opening chorus slowly eases you into the festive mood. As the song starts to build, the light shaking of jingling bells intensifies and leads up to the first verse, which explores everything that is exciting about Christmastime. The lyrics are blissfully nostalgic: ‘Watching reruns of old movies / Trying to make the day stretch into three or four / Mr. Bean and Home Alone we’d / Always cry at the same moment,’ encapsulating just some of the things that makes Christmas feel so comforting and familiar. Although there is a steady drumbeat introduced during the verses, it hardly feels overwhelming – rather an element added to skilfully blend the airy bells with the light synths, finishing with a subtle stroke of the violin in the pre-chorus.

It is hard to feel anything but the pure warmth radiated from the chorus. There is a mirror-like quality of the lyrics creates the same sense of familiarity and comfort: ‘My favourite day / I love the way it stays the same / Doing the same stuff when we were just kids / Oh, I love the way / The way that it stays the same / My favourite day.’ The simplicity of the lyrics makes this song something so accessible to a lot of listeners, allowing them to sway along with the track as it plays. As well as this, the anecdotal element of the verses adds a deeply personal touch to the track since a lot of the activities described are common to many households to those who celebrate Christmas. My personal favourite line reminds me of my own family at Christmas: ‘And I get super sentimental / Playing games around the table / And I’d let my brother win once in a while.’ Especially as we grow older, moments like these are ones that I too will indulge in and reminisce upon in the future, and the tone of ‘My Favourite Day’ encapsulates this perfectly.

As somebody who is usually sceptical of new Christmas songs, I think Fickle Friends have done a fantastic job at melting their own classic sound into a wholesome festive track. I may be biased, but it should be added to your music library immediately.

Rating: 8/10

You Might Also Like:

Live Review: Holly Humberstone

Live Review: Cleopatrick

Live Review: Joy Crookes