| Swedish singer-songwriter David Myhrwelcomes the holiday season with “(I Wish for You) A Merry Christmas,” out November 6. Written and produced alongside film composer Jimmy Lagnefors, the single pairs Myhr’s gift for melody with sleigh bells, soaring vocal harmonies, strings and brass, bringing a full Wall of Sound to a romantic tale of coming home for Christmas.Following his critically acclaimed third solo album, Everything Is All About You, and the single “Say Yes” the track finds Myhr turning his melodic pop sensibilities toward a long-held ambition: writing a Christmas song of his own. It will also appear in the upcoming Swedish comedy Hösten med Göran, opening in Sweden on Christmas Day.The idea began with a text from Lagnefors earlier this year: “We need a driving Christmas song for the movie. What does the Christmas song John & Paul never wrote together in 1973 sound like?”For Myhr, the challenge arrived in decidedly unseasonal surroundings.“I love a challenge, and I’ve long known that Christmas songs aren’t written in December,”says Myhr. “And sure enough, there I suddenly was, strolling the streets of Tokyo in the sweltering summer heat, trying to hum Christmas melodies.”Back in Stockholm, Myhr and Lagnefors combined their melodic ideas into a song filled with anticipation, winter imagery and the promise of a loved one returning home. Lagnefors took the lead on the lyrics, while a recurring counter-melody nods to the familiar chimes of Big Ben.The collaborators have previously teamed up on film songs including “Vänta inte på mig” and the ELO-inspired “Spellbound.”This time, their search for the right holiday sound led them to Phil Spector’s landmark 1963 album, A Christmas Gift for You.“To build our own ‘Wall of Sound,’ we brought in Andreas Dahlbäck (Per Gessle, Julian Lennon) on drums, who recorded two separate drum kits,” Myhr explains. “In that same ‘more is more’ spirit, I played double pianos and double guitars. On top of that, we added strings, brass, female backing vocals on the choruses, and naturally, a classic key change at the end.”Those layers give the recording its festive sweep, with Myhr also contributing glockenspiel, tubular bells and percussion. Hans Hjortek supplied the string and brass arrangements, while Markus Sjöberg mixed the track and Natalie Bibby mastered it at London’s AIR Studios.Behind the expansive production is a personal connection to the season, shaped by Myhr’s childhood in northern Sweden and renewed through becoming a parent.“I’ve dreamed of writing a proper Christmas song for a long time,” says Myhr. “Growing up as the late-born youngest of four siblings in our childhood home in Piteå, Christmas was pure magic. As an adult, it lost a bit of its luster. But now that I’m a father to a six-year-old myself, all of that wide-eyed, expectant magic has returned.”David Myhr’s “(I Wish for You) A Merry Christmas” arrives November 6 on all major streaming platforms via Oglio. |
