Artist: Ian Foster and Nancy Hynes
Song: “A Week in December”
Album: Ian Foster and Nancy Hynes: A Week in December
In Their Words: “I actually wrote this one in the height of summer (maybe that means I’ve levelled up as a songwriter? It’s a challenge to write a Christmas song in your shorts…haha). But I really started thinking about it last winter visiting a friend in Calgary, and talking about that trip home for that ‘week in December’ that most can manage when they live away.
I think most people who make that visit are confronted with quite a mix of emotions: obviously all the happy ones with family and friends, but also the more difficult ones of seeing your old home with different eyes, and seeing how things have changed. I found that balance interesting to write about, trying to capture that back and forth: beautiful lights…in bad weather, going to a Christmas bar show…that’s cacophonous. It falls into that introspective side of ‘end of the year’ songs, but for my friend – and for me – it ultimately reminds us why we go home that same time every year.
I’m singing with Nancy Hynes, who is my partner in ‘real life,’ and has sung harmony on my records since 2011. This album is called Ian Foster and Nancy Hynes: A Week in December, and is our first true duo record, featuring 10 Christmas classics and 2 originals. Nancy’s love of Christmas music was a driving force from the start, and I knew it would be a duo record right from pre-production.
Director Andrew Winter had a good idea when it came to the overlays using some clever tools in After Effects, and we found some treasure troves of footage — both his and ours — that brought things together. I think he did a great job of adding a different dimension to the song while still keeping true to it — an under-appreciated challenge in making music videos.” – Ian Foster
