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Dec 17, 2020 By Caleb Campbell STRFKR

Given what a disaster this year has been, it’s not surprising some people out there aren’t feeling the holiday spirit. For all the fellow grinches out there, Portland indie pop band STRFKR has released their tongue-in-cheek holiday song, “Happy Fucking Holiday,” premiering with Under the Radar. Fans of the band might recognize the song from its inclusion in a 2007 holiday compilation for the Willamette Week. Earlier this year the band released their fifth LP, Future Past Life, followed by an instrumental album, Ambient 1. But, in a very fitting move for 2020, the band has decided to cap off the year with their anti-holiday gem.

“Happy Fucking Holidays” smartly eschews the jingling bells and pasted on cheer of most holiday tunes, instead opting for a somber electric piano ballad. Colored by the gentle bubbling whirrs of synth and frontman Josh Hodges laconic vocals, Hodges sings, “Happy fucking holidays/I hope you say all the right things/Just like you mean it.” Though downcast, the track is as sing-along and effortlessly catchy as most of STRFKR’s work, and it is the perfect response to lifeless false holiday joy.

Hodges says of the song, “I wrote and recorded that song for a Portland local band holiday song comp thing that Casey Jarman [of Willamette Week] asked me to do I think. I’ve always hated most holiday music (like most people) so I wanted to make a holiday song that felt more like the holidays IRL. Couldn’t imagine a more appropriate year than 2020 for this song to step out into the world.” Check out the song a day ahead of its wide release below.