“It's what matters, the effort, the hours, the care and the patience, the conversations / And the late nights,” sings Kate Nash in her latest single, ‘Christmas Eve’. She captures a conversation that’s brewing on social media: creating lasting relationships is at once effortful, inconvenient and essential. 

This isn’t the singer-actor-activist’s first Christmas song. Her chaotic discography swings from punk to electro-pop: her 2007 hit ‘Foundations’ features on all self-respecting noughties pop playlists and ‘GERM’ uses punk spoken word to rail against transphobia. Nash covered Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ in 2011, and she released a five-track Christmas EP in 2013 which includes covers of carols like ‘Silent Night’ and originals like ‘I Hate You This Christmas’. 

Released as the final track on her upcoming album 'Cailín' (the Gaelic word for ‘girl’ or ‘young woman’), ‘Christmas Eve’ is an earnest ode to human moments of connection through the lens of her grandparents’ relationship, chronicling rejection, disappointment and death in the family. Nash fast-forwards through these episodes of profound devastation, creating a showreel of her grandparents’ experiences. The refrain “Life goes by in the blink of an eye / So raise it high, here’s to you and I” is an acknowledgement that we’re not in control of life’s direction, and a call to celebrate small joys in spite of it all. 

But despite its insightful subject matter, ‘Christmas Eve’ sounds hollow. The stripped-back style leaves the track sounding empty, as though Nash is singing to a deserted room. Perhaps the instrumental would benefit from greater prominence in the mix. Without rich musical backing, her voice cannot capture the optimism present in the lyrics. It lacks the rousing energy of a spirited Christmas song. 

As its collectivist message would suggest, it’s easier to imagine ‘Christmas Eve’ belted by a raucous crowd in a steamy pub. Social media videos prove that the song isn’t made for streaming, showing Nash injecting a twinkling atmosphere into the intimate venues of her North America tour. There, the silence isn’t emptiness, but rather the bated breath of a hushed crowd hanging onto her every note. Honouring her Irish heritage, she plays a tin whistle – her first instrument – onstage in a white dress and white floral fishnets. Nash pulls fans onto the stage to dance with her, squeaking guitar strings drowned out by merriment. 

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