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Jun 28, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Chris Braun

Saint Christopher is the new pop project of LA-based singer/songwriter Christopher Kalil, formerly of indie folk outfit Arms Akimbo. Kalil has introduced his new emotive project over the course of the pandemic, debuting with a trio of mixtapes, Always Feel The Same, I Learned To Kill My Brother, and When Heaven Calls I Won’t Be Home. Later this year, he’s set to return with his full-length debut album, Pop Shit, coming October 7th. Ahead of the release, Kalil teased the record with his lead single, “Winners,” and today he’s shared another new track, “Fire Season,” premiering early with Under the Radar.

Kalil shows off some impressive pop credentials with “Fire Season,” crafting a sweet melding of pop songwriting touches both old and new. The track begins in a dense and reflective mode, with the instrumental coalescing around distorted vocal samples, watery synths, and twisting guitar lines. However, Kalil also delivers an immensely catchy chorus, easygoing guitar pop chord progressions, a glossy auto-tuned vocal bridge, and tops the track off with a soulful guitar solo. “Fire Season” manages to blend these contrasting impulses seamlessly as Kalil moves between pop songwriting styles with an easygoing flair.

He explains of the track:

“Where I grew up,

We would get days off from school every Fall when the hills would catch fire.

Nowadays,

I have to stay in my seat and finish my work.

Back then it felt like the bad times would come in seasons. Same with the good times.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that the good times and the bad times happen all at once.

Fire season is all year.

This song is about the death of an old perspective and the birth of a new one.

The death of potential and the birth of acceptance.

I’m not looking for my big break?

I’m just looking for a little break.

We all deserve a pause button.

This song is mine.”

Check out the song below. Pop Shit is out October 7th. You can also read Kalil’s thoughts on the track and his creative process in the accompanying Q&A below.

What is the inspiration behind “Fire Season”, What do you want your fans to take away from this single? What does it mean to you personally?

In my hometown, “Fire Season” is what we called a period of time in the fall when the Santa Ana winds kicked up and combined with the dry heat and led to fires all along the hilltops of our city. It was hella scary because the sky would turn deep red and ashes would be falling everywhere, but, on the bright side, sometimes we would get the day off of school. It was like our own upside-down version of a snow day.

I had moved back home during the pandemic and found myself reflecting a lot on those bittersweet memories. It was a time when tragedy meant we could pause and take some time off to recover. Fast forward to the present it seems like it’s all chaos all the time & tragedy has to be taken in stride. So I wanted to write a song about slowing down during the bad times, being patient and present, and waiting for the fire to die down.

Can you share a bit about your songwriting process? And what do you think makes a good song?

In my experience, anyone who tells you that songwriting is an active process is giving musicians a little too much credit.

I find that it’s more about allowing the song to come to you — and the only way to do that is by engaging honestly with what you’re feeling and creating space for yourself to listen. Ideas come and go with no control and you follow those ideas where they lead. Then it’s just about knowing which ideas are worth indulging in and which ones are worth tossing.

There is so much incredible music being made around the world every day, but I find that I am most attracted to vulnerability in music. I only want art that has skin in the game, high stakes, something on the line. I don’t mean to say that every song should be really serious or intense, just that a good song requires that the artist leaves a piece of themselves with the work. So, to me, a good song has to start by telling the truth. After that, it’s just taste and preference.

How has LA influenced the music you make?

I have this theory that you can’t truly love Los Angeles unless you hate it just a little bit. A lot of things that make this place great are the same things that make it horrible so it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.

There’s definitely a different type of pressure that comes with being an artist out here. On one hand, there’s such a huge pool of talent that it can feel impossible to stand out. On the other hand, there is no place in the world that is more conducive to finding a community of people who are committed to living the art life. Living in a place like this definitely makes me feel like I have permission to truly devote myself to what I make.

How have you been spending your pandemic time?

It’s been all about embracing the chaos. If you didn’t blow up your entire life at least a little bit, you’re doing it wrong! This project actually kicked off pretty much right before the pandemic started, which was some uniquely unfortunate timing, but I decided to use the time as an opportunity to focus on my craft and make as much music as possible.

I’ve always been a bit of an indoor cat so my day-to-day lifestyle didn’t change too drastically. I did all of the quarantine basics: I got pretty good at cooking, got a therapist, developed an obsessive movie watching habit (follow Saint Christopher on Letterboxd, y’all!!), bought a bunch of books that I never read, got another therapist, learned how to screen print, broke my screen printing press, had a panic attack every time I felt a tickle in my throat, FaceTime’d everyone I’ve ever known, and worked on a ton of creative projects.

It was a brutal time for everyone so I just did my best to try to see it as an opportunity to make real changes in my life and commit to developing my artistic voice. It’s not often you get a real pause in life like that and I just wanted to make the most of it.