Ian Foster and Nancy Hynes have just released a video for “A Week In December,” the title track off their new Christmas album. Combining old family footage and a harsh brush with reality, the song really turns the screws on the old nostalgia gland.
“The song is about coming home,” explains Foster. “It started last March, talking to my friend Aiden in Calgary about that ‘week in December’ he can manage as a Newfoundlander living away and coming home for Christmas. I guess that’s most people who live away and go home for Christmas.”
It’s a familiar theme for many Atlantic Canadians. Head off to Alberta to make your fortune and make it back when you can. It’s one way to make a living, but coming back isn’t without its challenges either.
“We also talked about the bittersweetness of coming home: you see all the old sites, but the weather’s crap. The best friends and family, but they’ve changed in little ways, and so have you,” says Foster. “It seemed like a complex set of emotions to capture and a great challenge for a song.”
To make things a little more complex Foster and Hynes enlisted director Andrew Winter for the video. They’ve layered on old family footage from past Christmases just to remind us of what Christmas used to look like. It’s practically an alien world that has been captured on Super 8.
“We stood in a garage on a cold, bright morning, blew out the background to white, and [Winter] dug through his own childhood footage and a bunch of Nancy’s and my own for the old images you see in the video. Nancy had super 8 stuff going back to the 60s: really special,” says Foster.
“I think the general concept of the video is cool, but on a personal level it means something too: Nancy’s old dog Skippy makes it in, running through the dog door when the door is completely snowed in, and there’s a closeup shot of her over-layed with her mother asleep on the couch with her brother which is really sweet. Lots of moments, which is the key for both a song and a music video.
I loved Andrew’s concept because it evokes that nostalgia that comes with the holidays but isn’t a visual rehash of the lyric: it’s another dimension for the song.”
So while it might seem like a nice, heartwarming visit going back to visit your family each Christmas, as they say, you can never really go back. You only get to carry it in your memories and boxes of old footage.
Tour Dates:
11.30.18 – Lewisporte, NL @ Citadel House
12.01.18 – Botwood, NL @ The Dockside
12.02.18 – Gander, NL @ Gander Golf Club
12.06.18 – Middle River, NS @ ABCP Farm House Concert
12.07.18 – Gabarus , NS @ Taigh nan Òg House Concert
12.08.18 – Canning, NS @ Sea-Esta House Concert
12.10.18 – Deer Lake, NL @ St. Michael & All Angels Anglican Church
12.13.18 – St. John’s, NL @ St. Mark’s Anglican Church
12.19.18 – St. John’s, NL @ VOCM Happy Tree Concert