Jeremy Warmsley concludes his year-long labour of love with the mollifying "December"

Jeremy Warmsley has written and released a new song every month this year, culminating in "December" from the aptly titled album A Year, which takes us through the changing of the seasons with sympathetic instrumentation and highly relatable narratives.

Whereas the project started with feelings of being stifled by loved ones and dreams of absconding, "December’" sees Warmsley do a 360, finding relief and amity in the familiarity of his hometown. “At home I can see myself, I can be myself” he sings in a delightfully endearing manner that fits the cosy, homemade feel of the track. And with the sleigh bells at the outset, it’s not hard to imagine Warmsley at the family piano in a suitably dapper Christmas jumper, sherry in hand, in something reminiscent of a scene from A Very Murray Christmas.

The addition of fragments from "Auld Lang Syne" is both curious and brave; but its seamless integration with the rest of the lyrics only adds to the feelings of familiarity the track brings. Of the addition, Warmsley says: “I love how Tom Waits interpolated ‘Waltzing Matilda’ into ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’ and I’ve always wanted to use a familiar bit of an old favourite song like that in one of my songs, and it felt very appropriate to use ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the year wraps up.

"Also, since the song was about being close to your loved ones, I wanted to use close, intimate sounds, rather than piling masses of reverb on everything, and to try to use space between the notes to suggest a time and place rather than using the snazziest and most up-to-date production techniques. Nothing says 'home' to me more than a muffled piano, so that’s the main instrument here.”