Joy to the world! It’s the return of our favourite festive tradition, the Joyzine Advent Calendar, back for its 22nd consecutive edition, which as far as we’re aware makes it the longest running on the net.
As always, every track is completely free to download and we don’t require you to sign up for a mailing list (though you can if you want to) or hand over your personal data – it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s visited the site during 2025 and to hopefully bring a few more listeners to some very deserving artists.
However, if you do enjoy the tracks we would love you to consider making a donation to our chosen cause, which this year is HOPE not hate, and their stirling work researching, campaigning, and supporting communities to build HOPE and oppose far-right extremism. You can make a donation here.
It wouldn’t be the Joyzine Advent Calendar without an opening track from Piney Gir, who has contributed more tracks to the calendar than any other artist. Her festive back-catalogue is a yuletide feast of stunning originals and quirky takes on Christmas classics, and sits perfectly alongside her seven LPs (not to mention her excellent work as 1/4 of the excellent Schla La Las, who reformed this year to celebrate 20 years since their first EP), which despite their wide-ranging styles from country hoe-downs to warm-hearted indie pop to icy electro and witchy psychedelia have always had a kernal of Piney-ness at their core.
This year she’s brought a friend to the party. ‘Winter Flowers’ sees Piney and multi-media artist Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot in darkly sparkling form and is the perfect soundtrack to those frosty December nights.
Here’s what they had to say about the collaboration:
When Piney Gir met Parenthesis Dot Dot it was Christmas past… the synth-pop, keytar-wielding songstress supported Parenthesis in his former guise, fronting disco-pop troubadours Baxendale in the West London basement bar that is no more “Cherry Jam” where Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines cut their teeth. The two spirits were kindred but separate, following their muses in singular ways. 20 years later Parenthesis was art director for Piney’s most recent EP Cosmic Upside Down creating sleeve visuals as well as a stellar video for “Show Me The Lightning” where Piney is a deranged weather girl controlling the stratosphere with witchcraft. They played together at beloved indie venue “The Lexington” in London and so a duet seemed like the most natural next step.
Please enjoy their offering “Winter Flowers” created especially and exclusively for the Joyzine Advent Calendar, where Piney is the sun to Parenthesis’ darkness; you hear them toggle from waltz-time to four-on-the-floor, giving a not-so-subtle, crooning nod to Lee & Nancy, this song will see you through a dark winter’s night and into the light.
It’s a perfect teaser for Piney’s forthcoming vinyl release on No Distance Records, featuring material from her recent 3 EPs and some new, unreleased tracks, and for Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot’s next EP ‘The Exquisite Corpse’ due in early 2026.
We caught up with them both for a festive q&a session:
Tell us a little bit about your track please
)… The song came together very quickly, like a sudden frost. Its melodies and rhythms, tumbling and turning like snowflakes in a blizzard
P I had a baby recently so getting into the studio is logistically a little trickier these days, simply trying to carve out the time. The nature of this duet was fun and quite a fresh approach, we wrote our bits of the song separately – and you can hear how they sort of jar as they toggle back and forth, but I like that so we made a feature of it… and then we spent one day in the studio together honing it with Garo Nahoulakian who produced and mixed the track in his studio. It was a great day!
What have you been up to in 2025?
)… In 2025 I’ve been painting, making music, videos and flapjacks
P Lately mostly day-jobbing as a music supervisor and music industry consultant while adjusting to being a new parent, which has been its own kind of magic. I also had the joy of a Schla La Las reunion gig to celebrate 20 years of our 1st EP, which was remastered and re-released on vinyl. It was so nice hanging out with those girls again and making a racket with our guitars! I’m also a radio presenter for The LOUD WOMEN show on Resonance FM, it’s a privilege to be a part of that collective and to help nurture our scene. I’ve also written a few tracks due for release next year on the new Piney LP which is super exciting and I can’t wait to share it with the world.
And what are your plans for next year?
)… In 2026 I’ll be doing better paintings, finally releasing more music, finishing videos and making bigger sweeter flapjacks
P Well I mentioned the Piney vinyl release out next year which I’m super excited about, I just need to finish it, but it’s close! Also, The Schla La Las are playing LOUD WOMEN next Valentines Day @ Hope & Anchor for those who might like to come… So the year will be off to a good start!
What have been your musical highlights of the year from other bands/artists?
)… Hamish Hawk at the Islington Assembly Hall. Breathtakingly good
P I love the new Hives album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives and they did a gig at Outernet in August (the new venue at Tottenham Court Road) & while the venue was nothing like the Astoria (I miss Astoria) it was a pretty awesome gig. Nice to see them play somewhere relatively small, Pelle is such a great frontman & the whole band are at the top of their game right now. I found it super inspiring (and 2/3 of the Schla La Las were there with me, I think they felt the same!) – I also adored seeing Kim Deal at the Roundhouse in the summer, I’ve always been a fan but her new stuff is just incredible, I love the band and the gorgeous backing vocals and the shonky brass, perfection! && last but not least I saw Neil Young at Hyde Park and it was so great. I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance to see him in person, and I’m so glad that I did, what a legend and what a great show.
Christmas: The most wonderful time of the year or a big bag of humbug?
)… Definitely the former. Impromptu singalongs, bizarre family rituals, the scent of nutmeg in the air…
P Wonderful of course! I wish it could be Christmas everyday… but then maybe Christmas wouldn’t feel so magical. There should be a Judd Apatow movie about that, and I’d watch it every year, right after the annual viewing of “Elf” of course!
Stream and download ‘Winter Flowers’ below
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
Piney Gir: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Check back tomorrow for another free festive download!
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