Music and lyrics: Orla Hylleberg Eriksen

Feels like Christmas, composed and recorded in November 2011.
Christmas bells, composed and recorded in November 2012. (Danish version recorded in December 2012).
Little Candlelight, composed and recorded in November 2013.
I don't like Christmas, composed and recorded in November 2014.
Heavy Christmas, composed and recorded in November 2015.
Santaerobic, composed and recorded in December 2015.
Christmas forever, composed and recorded in November 2016.
Waiting for Christmas, composed and recorded in November 2017.
Christmas Sleigh, composed and recorded in October 2018.
Christmas song, composed and recorded in September 2019.
Christmas alone, composed and recorded in September 2020.
Celebrating Christmas, composed and recorded in September 2021.
Candlelight Christmas, composed and recorded in September 2022.
Heart of Christmas, composed and recorded in September 2023.
Christmas party, composed and recorded in September 2024.
Produced by Orla Hylleberg Eriksen

Programmed, recorded and mixed on Steinberg Cubase 6.05 - 10.5)
 

I did not expect that I'd be writing another Christmas song, but the 4Sound song competition for December 2012 was once again a Christmas song. I thought that I'd never come up with ideas for one more. But when I sat down at the keyboard things began to emerge. I did not expect the lyrics to be in danish, so I, as usual, wrote it in English, but later it appeared that the lyrics should be in Danish. So I had to translate it and record the vocals once again. thats why there's two versions of the song.

In 2013 I decided not to write anymore Christmas songs because no one asked for it, however an idea came up and I had to follow it.

In 2014 I got an idea for a Christmas song late in the summer. I wanted it to deal with unhappy love and not about snow and bells.

Again in the summertime of 2015 I got ideas for the next Christmas song. This time about eating and drinking. Later in December I made a short instrumental thing for Bo's Christmas video about Santa doing aerobics.

In 2016 I got plenty of time to write the Christmas song of the year due to staying home after my bicycle crash. It's a short song about enjoying the lights in this dark time of the year.

In the autumn of 2017 I began thinking of the Christmas song of this year. I've had the title in my mind for some time. This time the words came easy and the melody lines came smooth. The recording were also easy though I lost the first vocal take due to troubles with my pc.

In September 2019 I kinda panicked because I thought I couldn't come up with an idea for a christmas song. At first I thought that it would be just another christmas song. It became the idea. I shortened it to 'Christmas song'.

2020 - What a horrible year. I did not want to write a Christmas song. Just to convince Bo to make a video made me want to give up. Then in august I came to think of what I could possible write about. I thought about the Corona, the lock down and the restrictions. It was then clear that this year the Christmas would be lonely for a major part of the people. Many will have to spend their Christmas alone. I started to write the lyrics and in September I wrote and recorded the music. Now on to the video - I got some ideas and Bo has promised to help with the graphics.

2021 - Most of us got vaccinated during the spring/summer, so by fall all the Covid-19 restrictions were removed. This is the inspiration for the Christmas song this year "Celebrating Christmas". This year I also got some ideas for the video. Let see if we can make it in time.

2022 - Las year the Covid-19 increased and the Christmas went terribly wrong. And this year we don't know if the Covid-19 will come back, but the war in Ukraine has made gas and energy shortage so all the light we use to have will not be lit. Hence the title Candlelight Christmas - let see how we make it this time.

2023 - This year I wanted to get to the heart of Christmas - core values and such.

2024 - As always I'm in doubt whether I should make another christmas song. Well I got an idea. Make Christmas a party!

VSTi og plugins:
Native Instruments B4, Pro 53, G-Media M-Tron, Synth1, EVOL, Sylenth1,  Embracer and Steinberg Groove Angent One, Arturia OBX A and HALion Sonic SE. Kjærhus Audio Plugins. Vocal treatment: Steinberg VariAudio. Mastered with IK T-RackS 3 (CS Grand) as plug-in from Steinberg WaveLab 7, 8, 8.5.
Keyboards and soundmodules
Roland D-50, CME UF8 and Roland M-GS64 Sound Module, Roland A-88 (Heavy Christmas), Roland D-05.
Guitars:
Hohner G3T and Caparison Horus (solo on Christmas bells), Steinberger GLB2 (Little Candlelight), Steinberger spirit (I don't like Christmas, Christmas forever), Kiesel Vader 7 and Parker Fly Mojo (Heavy Christmas, Christmas forever, Christmas alone). Waiting for Christmas and Christmas alone (Steinberger Spirit and Parker Fly Mojo). for Celebrating Christmas I used Steinberger Spirit (white). Kiesel Vader 7 and Kiesel Zeus acoustic/electric.
Hardware:
Lexicon MPX 100 and MPX 200 Reverbs, Behringer Xenyx 2222 FX Mixer, Behringer Ultra Voice Pro and Behringer B2 Microphone. Echo Layla soundcard. Steinberg UR824 soundcard. Boss GT-3 guitarmultieffect.
From Christmas bells the MPX 200 has been replaced with t.c. M350 reverb and Behringer Ultra Voice Pro and Behringer B2 Microphone was replaced by dbx 376 channel strip and Røde NT2A microphone. From Heavy Christmas) The Behringer Xenyx 2222 FX Mixer has been replaced with a Yamanha MG16XU mixer and the dbx 376 channel strip has been left out. From Christmas forever the Echo Layla soundcard has been replaced with Steinberg UR824 soundcard. From Christmas alone the Lexicon MPX 100 was replaced by Lexicon MPX 300.