Knifeplay Release Christmas EP ‘For The Holidays’: Listen

The dreamy and experimental Philadelphia band Knifeplay’s new album Animal Drowning earned them Band To Watch honors and spots on our lists of 2022’s best albums and songs as well as our annual Best New Bands list. Suffice it to say we like them a lot.

Today the group is back with For The Holidays, a new EP compiling Christmas songs Knifeplay have released annually for the past four years. The project leads off with the freshly released “Is It Snowing, Wherever You Are?” and continues with three previous entries in the series, which may well be new to you. For The Holidays is on sale through Jan. 1, with all proceeds benefitting Broad Street Ministry, which provides food and clothing to Philadelphians in need.

A statement from Knifeplay’s TJ Strohmer explains that For The Holidays will return each season with one new addition:

I hope to build this album year after year, it will come and go just like the holidays themselves, but always with new songs and new perspectives. Just as we all return to the holidays each year with newfound growth. It will eventually serve as a snapshot of the progression of our music through the years, and a reflection of where our heads were on any given year. I realize this music won’t be for everyone and it isn’t what most people want from us. But it is a project I feel so naturally compelled by. It is impossible to rank and rate because it is a pure soul expression, it is my most egoless songwriting. It an exercise in happiness and optimism which somehow eludes my expressions of how I interact with the world for the rest of year.

Stream the existing tracklist below, and purchase the project at Bandcamp.