As the last Christmas plate is washed up and the scraps of wrapping paper are sorted and carted off to the recycling bin for another year, we’re all looking for something to keep our festive flame alight, and we’ve got just the thing. Sadly this year’s Joyzine Advent Calendar was cut short (as explained here) but that means we have loads of brilliant songs still to share with you over the coming days to lighten the trudge towards the new year.

As with all of out songs this year, if you enjoy them we’d love you to consider supporting the excellent work of First Timers Fest in creating opportunities for people from under-represented backgrounds to learn an instrument, form a band, write some songs and get onstage, by making a donation here.

The band Prismatiqk in silhouette with santa hats on their heads and Christmas lights wrapped around them

First up we have an exclusive track from Kent-based synthpop duo Prismatiqk, and their wintery cover of The Lemonheads’ ‘Hannah & Gabi’.

Featuring friend of Joyzine Steve Horry (formerly of 586, The 18 Carat Love Affair and Subliminal Girls, as well as contributing the occasional article to these pages) and vocalist Monaz Parry, the two-piece contributed another excellent cover (Kylie, this time) to our 20 Years of Joy compilation earlier this year, as well as several sparkly pop nuggets via their own Bandcamp.

We caught up with Prismatiqk to find out a bit more:

Tell us a little about your track please
When we started messing around with making music together, we bonded over our mutual love of The Lemonheads, specifically this song, which is one of Steve’s go-to tracks any time an acoustic finds its way into his hands. We’ve only ever played this cover to ourselves in that way, for fun, but Steve had the amazing idea to turn it into an icy, Christmas synthpop instrumental, to which Monaz then added some vocals to match.

What have you been up to in 2024?
This year we’ve done a lot of recording and writing and released a couple of singles (‘Worst of Me’ and ‘Heart’) that we’re really proud of. We also contributed a cover of the unreleased Kylie banger ‘White Diamond’ to Joyzine’s 20 Years of Joy compilation, which was a LOT of fun to do! We played some epic gigs in London and in our adopted hometown of Tunbridge Wells, and have worn a lot of equally epic shoes. We’ve also done odd bits of production and writing here and there with others, which leads nicely into your next question, which is…

And what do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We’re finally releasing the EP we’ve been sat on for aaaages, those collaborative tracks should see the light of day, and we’ve got a couple of local shows lined up. Steve’s next graphic novel – Sleepytime Village – is finally finished, so plans are in motion for that. There’s also a point & click adventure game version in collaboration with James from Joyzine faves The Fades – amongst others – that is due out on Halloween.

Christmas songs – love them or hate them? Why?
LOVE THEM! Christmas songs are a huge part of what makes the season JOYFUL, and we love the fact that they span the spectrum of happiness to heartbreak and everything in between. Steve usually gets obsessed with a different specific Christmas song every December and plays it to death. Monaz insists on hearing the She & Him version of ‘The Christmas Waltz’ pretty much every evening until the big day.

We’re both convinced we’ll pen an Xmas banger sooner or later. In the meantime, please enjoy our festive electronic twist on a heartbreaking alt-country classic.

Download ‘Hannah & Gabi‘
Make a donation to First Timers

Prismatiqk: Instagram / Bandcamp

Catch up on all of this year’s Advent Calendar Tracks so far:
1: Piney Gir – Reindeer
2: Gabriel Minnikin – Said Information
3: LOUD WOMEN ft. Smallways, Butterknife, Daddy Issues, Witch Spit, R.U.B, Vipersnatch, Worm Girlz, Lady Lazarus and Stabbitha & The Knifey Wifeys
4: First Timers Fest ft. Gay Skeleton Club and Skutterfly
5: Goo Records ft. Jopy, The Stanford Family Band, Owners Club and The Roebucks
6: Dead Horse – Historic
7: Gemma Rogers – Never Have I Ever
8: Umarells – Closer
9: MJ Hibbett – Moshi Twistmas
10: The Indelicates – Mom Is Waking Up (acoustic)