Christmas comes with a certain soundtrack – the Slade / Wizzard / Wham! classics that tend to recur each and every year. Now, we like those songs are much as the next person, but by about Day Four of the festive period is tends to grate a little…

So, Pentire have stepped in to help matters. The Herefordshire-based indie band are small-town dreamers with big hearts, with singles such as ‘Spinning’ and ‘Give Me A Reason’ quickly becoming fan favourites.

New EP ‘Love On TV’ is due to be released early next year, so Pentire have decided to celebrate by piecing together the Ultimate Indie Christmas playlist.

Say the band…

“Who knows what makes a Christmas song ‘good,’ anyway? Honestly, it probably changes every year. For the first 20 years of your life, you’re bombarded with the same jingles every December, and sure, those might be considered the ‘classics.’ But we beg to differ. It’s time to break free from the annual Mariah takeover. So, we’ve pulled together some of our favourite tracks to give your holiday playlist a much-needed reshuffle. Pop these on during your Christmas dinner, and pretend you’re celebrating around our table instead—we promise, it’s more fun over here.”

So, crack open your mam’s secret sherry and hit ‘play’ on this epic playlist…

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Devon – Staying Home For Christmas

You gotta champion your hometown right? Devon has been a part of our musical journey ever since we met way back in 2016 (ish). I really love the feel of this song, it captures the reality of a Christmas at home and has some really beautiful imagery. It’s on repeat every year for me, I just love it. If Devon isn’t on your “upcoming artist” radar, he should be. – Jack (vocals and guitar)

Bleachers – ‘Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call‘

I only heard this the other day as it’s newly released, but wow. Starting to realise we only like Christmas songs with sad narratives, but it’s a Bleachers song, and it’s about Christmas… What’s not to love? It’ll pick up later in the playlist, we promise. – Owen (lead guitar)

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Tellison – ‘Good Luck It’s Christmas

This song has such a beautiful sentiment, originally released as a charity single for men’s mental health, it sounds really simple but it’s actually a complex song to play, which, although complexity doesn’t correlate with quality, makes it really interesting to listen to. We actually covered this song this year, not sure if it’ll ever make the light of day, but it exists. Maybe if we ever make it, you’ll hear it. – Jack (vocals and guitar)

Pentire – ‘Can I Drive

Because well… you can’t not have a slice of Pentire at Christmas time, can you? Can I Drive is about slowly parting ways with a childhood friend, and one of the highlights of Christmas for us is all meeting up again in the pub in our hometown, so it just felt right to include here.

The Kinks – ‘Father Christmas‘

I remember first figuring out The Kinks had a christmas song, what an eye opening experience that was. As expected, the lyrics are pretty unapologetic. Whilst everyone else was floating around singing about how wonderful the holidays are, Ray Davies wasted no time in pointing out societal imbalance in the festive season. Classic. – Jake (drums)

Coldplay – ‘Christmas Lights‘

A proper childhood one here. Christmas songs should remind you of home, childhood and comfort; and this does just that for me. I still don’t understand why people hate Coldplay, they’re one of the best bands of our generation and I think maturing is realising that. – Jack (vocals and guitar)

The 1975 – ‘Wintering‘

Love them or hate them, this is a small stroke of Genius from Matty and the gang. It would’ve been awful if they sang about decking the halls, baubles, and his mum kissing Santa Claus, but instead he wrote about stuffing and bad backs. It’s all about the way you frame ordinary things to give them emotion and bring them to life, and I think this does that very well. You can really envision a proper family Christmas listening to this. – Owen (lead guitar)

John Lennon – ‘War Is Over‘

Okay yes, this is a classic. You’ll hear this at almost every Christmas party up and down the country, but does that mean it’s bad? However you feel about John Lennon, you simply cannot argue that he isn’t one of the most important songwriters in musical history. So enjoy a singalong in the final stages of our, frankly brilliant, playlist. – Jack (vocals and guitar)

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Mazzy Star – ‘Flowers In December‘

This song recently came up through a Spotify worm hole whilst looking for some new Christmas songs to listen to. I have always enjoyed Mazzy Star songs and this one didn’t disappoint . I find her voice very soothing along with her interesting chord choices so it’s now become a classic chillout Christmas song for me. – Jacob (bass)

Mud – ‘Lonely This Christmas‘

Who doesn’t love a 6/8 christmas ballad? This is an absolute classic. It brings a slightly melancholic tone to Christmas, but also has the ability to get everyone singing in the living room. The duality of good art shining through. – Jake (drums)

The Darkness – ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)‘

I remember my Dad showing me this song when I was younger and it has remained a favourite ever since. I love the classic rock vibe with the falsetto melody, something The Darkness are known for but you wouldn’t usually hear it in a Christmas song. – Jacob (bass)

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Pentire – ‘How Have You Been Sleeping‘

We wrote this in a cold university room in December of 2022. It rang through as our ‘christmas anthem’ for a while, as we always felt like before a song was released, it was our secret to sing. Although we get to play it all year round at our shows, it always reminds us of that festive time with all our friends. Plus, it was a fitting way to end our debut EP, so why not use it again to end this playlist? Thanks for listening!

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Pentire’s new EP ‘Love on TV’ is out on January 31st. All tour dates and info here.