At last! The Wedding Present single series comes to an end. Sad for fans of the Weddoes but a good day for those of us who have to find all these damn things in the stock room. David Gedge says: "Ah, the old `Christmas song'. To be honest, I've kind of been one of those `bah, humbug' types ever since I realised that the only thing we're really celebrating on 25 December is capitalism! "Thanks for the list of stuff you want me to buy for you, here's a list of stuff I want you to buy for me." There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but, for me, one of the most appealing things about the festive season is the way pop songs always seem more poignant when they're also Christmas songs. It's all about heightened expectation and disappointment, perhaps. I've had a go myself a couple of times over the years, of course, and it seemed fitting to have another crack at it for the grand finale of `24 Songs'. Hence, `The Loneliest Time Of Year' has a huge, melancholy chorus, sleigh bells, and an appropriately surreal video. The other song on our final 7" of 2022, `Memento Mori', is a perkier affair which was written while I gazed admiringly at the snow-topped Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State." The release of this monthly series, in 2022 The Wedding Present is releasing a new 7" single every month, the final this year's Christmas available for indie record stores only in December. This fascinating project - which goes under the name of 24 Songs - comes thirty years after the band's similar Hit Parade series of 7"s in 1992 and features two brandnew recordings by the current WP incarnation. Each of the records comes in a beautifully designed sleeve featuring brutalist photography by Jessica McMillan. Each single will be limited to 2,400 copies ww.