Mallory Chipman explains why it’s Different This Christmas with her new solo single
Alberta singer-songwriter Mallory Chipman has performed everything from jazz to, most recently, progressive rock on her album Aquarian with her band the Mystics. This year she offers her first Christmas song, written for anyone who will be missing a loved one.
“Different This Christman” finds Mallory embracing a Celtic-flavoured sound, as she’s featured on lead vocals and keyboards, with Brett Hansen handling guitar, mandolin and bass, Joel Jeschke on drums and Kate Blechinger on backing vocals. Lyrically, Mallory lays it all out in the heart-wrenching opening lines:
The calendar is still flipped to November
Some Group of Seven autumn scene, but it’s already the fourteenth
It won’t be like the years that we remember
And that scares me
I guess that we might need a smaller table
So I can’t see the space where you should be
But I know that if you were here and able
That you’d sit next to me
Mallory said, “A lot has changed over the past two years, and while the holidays bring great joy, they can also be bittersweet. This song intends to shine a light on the broader scope of holiday experiences, while remembering what really matters: being together. It is dedicated to my grandma, who lives with Alzheimer’s disease in a care home, and whom I dearly miss around the tree each year.”
Having grown up with family members that included a grandfather who was a professional jazz pianist, a mother who loved New Wave and a father who was into ‘80s hair metal, it’s hardly surprising where Mallory’s eclectic tastes originate. She herself studied musical theatre and opera as a teen, later earning a Bachelor of Music degree and teaching voice at MacEwan University in Edmonton. Along the way, she has performed in venues across Canada and the U.K., even landing gigs as a backup singer for Heart and on the Roy Orbison hologram tour.
Looking ahead into 2022, Mallory is planning to try her hand at roots music with a new band she’s calling the Goddamsels. Stay tuned for more on that, but for now you can get “Different This Christmas” on Spotify and Apple Music.
