Christmas Music in Vilnius Also Practices Social Distancing
2020 has been full of surprises and this Christmas is going to be anything but normal, to say the very least. The unwanted “spirit” of social distancing has changed many of our beloved Christmas traditions, and you simply can’t argue with the reality that we just can’t mix…unless it’s with music.
Vilnius' Soundtrack to a Socially-Distanced Christmas
In collaboration with the Antidote electronic music project, music producers and composers began considering how the main rules of social distancing affect our lives. Together, they defined a key musical principle: they converted the two metres of universally recommended social distance to three human steps, which became a space of three notes.
So, every note from a song’s main melody was followed by two equal-length intervals of pause. This gave notes more space and made rhythms much slower, but that was only the beginning.
Seven electronic music producers with the newly formed social distancing musical principle added their own creative twist to seven iconic Christmas songs, including Jingle Bells, Silent Night and Oh Christmas Tree. The final result gave a new electronic sound to well-known songs, creating a totally different listening experience.
The result is the first of its kind – a social distancing album for Christmas 2020. The album has been published digitally and is free for everyone to enjoy.
Listen on Soundcloud
An Open-Air Installation for the Holidays
To celebrate the release of the album, audiences can enjoy an audio-visual installation on one of the most iconic facades in Vilnius – the city’s electronic music mecca Kablys.
Let the Music Speak for Itself
Listen to the songs and get to know the artists and the creative ideas behind these new RE-XMAS 2020 sounds.
FUME – Stille Nacht (en. Silent Night)
About the Artist
FUME is an experimental and minimalistic electronic music project by Lithuanian producer Maksimilianas Opriška. His sensitive ambient style emphasises the magical mood of the great Christmas classic Stille Nacht (Silent Night).
In his interpretation, FUME used only sounds of processed glockenspiel bells, which were strongly manipulated to create an atmospheric feeling of snow, frost and Christmas magic.
To get the full experience from the reinvented Stille Nacht, we recommend listening to the track with no distractions. Just listen; it has a story to tell.
Artfcl – Kalėdinė Eglutė (Kardiofonas)
About the Artist
A collaboration between electronic music producer Andrius Laucevičius and multi-instrumentalist Matas Samulionis formed into a project called Artfcl – a duo of experimental sound exploration. Artfcl reimagined one of the most iconic Lithuanian Christmas songs, Kalėdinė Eglutė by Kardiofonas.
In addition to the key social distancing principle, Artfcl used atmospheric sound interpretations to emphasise the distancing theme. For example, a clear distinction and distance between the synthesizers sounds in the left and right channels. Using the side-chain effect, the left synthesizer made the right one quieter and vice versa.
Monikaze – Jingle Bells
About the Artist
Monikaze, a project by Monika Zenkevičiūtė, could be described as avant-pop, inspired by IDM, electronica, jazz and other styles where synthetic acoustic sounds and vocals overlap.
Avant-garde would be the best word to describe Monikaze’s interpretation of the famous Jingle Bells. She used sounds from a hospital environment for the remix: cardiograph beeps (to recreate the melody), air purifiers and others.
In addition to the vocals, Monika created a melancholic version of Jingle Bells that is relevant to the times.
Roe Deers – Deck the Halls
About the Artist
Roe Deers, AKA Liudas Lazauskas, is a Lithuanian-based producer. Enthralling nights of endless audiences in Lithuania and all over Europe until social distancing became the norm, this time Roe Deers challenged himself to bring his sentimental disco, rock and house sound from the clubs to reimagining Deck the Halls.
In addition to our key social distancing principle, Roe Deers added a musical box interpretation, which itself is a blend of Christmas mood and a metallic sound. To perform Roe Deer’s version of Deck the Halls, you’d need a thousand real musical boxes.
Lakeside Culture – O Holy Night
About the Artist
Lakeside Culture is a genre-bending electronic music project developed by the international duo of Linas Ftee and Rob Meyer. Therefore, symbolic to social distancing, the remix of O Holy Night had to be produced from two different countries – more than 2,000 km apart from each other to be precise, with Rob Meyer working from London and Linas Ftee from Vilnius.
Listeners can actually hear the duality in the interpretation. The track itself has two characters – one side is a reflection of the past, with a kind of nostalgic longing for good times that were once had. The other side of the track shows signs of hope and a positive feeling towards what the future holds.
Alex Krell – O Tannenbaum (en. O Christmas Tree)
About the Artist
Alex Krell makes techno and is riding a new wave of deep and dark techno, which made the task of reinventing the well-known O Tannenbaum Christmas carol even more interesting, to say the least.
How can one stay true to the techno sound and make it Christmassy? In his remix, we continuously hear a melody phrase from the beginning of O Tannenbaum, repeated again and again like a broken record. By doing this, Alex is trying to recreate the same kind of frustration most people who are longing for social interaction and nightlife these days feel.
grad_u – We Wish You a Merry Christmas
About the Artist
Well-respected DJ and dub techno producer grad_u took on the challenge of interpreting the forever-happy We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The challenge here was keeping the happy spirit of the song while staying true to the depth of the electronic music sound. grad_u used the social distancing recommendations for public events and public transport – people could only sit on every second seat.
The remix starts with the well-known melody of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, until gradually every second note of the melody disappears. It forms a new melody, reflecting the spirit of Christmas 2020.
