Today my new Christmas album Wrapped in Paper is out, and with it comes the end of a twenty-year tradition.
Get it here: https://sofiatalvik.bandcamp.com/album/wrapped-in-paper
It started as a fun way to do something different from my usual songs. Then it became a yearly tradition. Now, after two decades I decided to gather up all the songs from the last 7 years, write 2 new ones and re-imagine Silent Night, and wrap them all in paper for you as one last Christmas bang! I’m not saying I’ll never write another Christmas song, but the yearly tradition is coming to an end with this album. The last song on Wrapped in Paper – Merry Christmas, Adios, So Long – is my goodbye and my explanation to this.
For my final Christmas single, I planned to finally write something cheerful—a proper jingle bells moment. But if you know me, you know that’s not what happened.
Instead, what emerged was “Let Peace be the Song”—a protest Christmas song. The world shapes what we create, whether we intend it to or not. This song is a plea for peace, but also about the weariness of watching injustice unfold. I kept it stripped bare—just guitar and voice—because folk music has always been the home for feelings like these.
I know this might not be what everyone wants from a Christmas song. Sometimes we need beauty and comfort. Which is why the rest of Wrapped in Paper offers that too—including a new open-tuning arrangement of “Silent Night” with soaring violins, and other songs meant to be savored.
I hope you’ll find something in it that speaks to you.
Thank you for being part of this journey with me.
Wrapped in Paper is available everywhere now.