We Speak Music
Soul de Vienne Capture the Quiet Heart of the Holidays on “The Magic of Christmas”
As winter settles in and the pace of everyday life begins to slow, Soul de Vienne returns with a song that turns away from spectacle and toward something far more enduring. Their new single, “The Magic of Christmas”, is a soulful, intimate reflection on the moments that give the season its meaning — not the lights or the noise, but the presence of love.
Led by Austrian composer and producer Roman Schleischitz, the genre-blending collective brings together soul, pop, jazz, and funk with characteristic elegance. On “The Magic of Christmas”, warm trumpet lines glide through the arrangement, shimmering synth bells echo softly like distant lights, and expressive guitar and piano unfold with restraint. A smooth rhythm section of bass and drums keeps the song grounded, allowing its emotional center to remain front and clear. The result is a track that feels both timeless and deeply personal.
At its core lies a simple but resonant line; “The magic of Christmas began with you”. Delivered through a soulful, expressive vocal performance, the lyric captures a feeling many recognize but rarely articulate: that the season’s true warmth often reveals itself in quiet moments shared with someone else. Nostalgia lingers here, but it never overwhelms; instead, it glows gently, inviting listeners into a space that feels intimate yet universal.
The idea of creating a Christmas song had been with Schleischitz for years. As he explains:
“Ever since I heard I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by the Jackson 5, I wanted to write a Christmas song myself.”
The decisive moment arrived much later, in 2023, at a Christmas market. Surrounded by festive bustle, Schleischitz noticed a couple standing still, completely absorbed in each other. That image shifted his perspective.
“That moment made me realize that the true magic of Christmas lies in human connection and love. I wanted to capture exactly that feeling in the song.”
While the concept and lyrics came together quickly, the music itself took time to find its final shape. Schleischitz returned to the song months later, navigating the challenge of capturing winter emotion outside the season itself. The breakthrough finally came in December, with the track recorded shortly after, in January, while the musicians still carried the spirit of Christmas with them.
Drawing on their Viennese roots and global influences, Soul de Vienne are known for sophisticated arrangements, live brass, and emotionally resonant storytelling. With “The Magic of Christmas”, they step into a softer, more tender light, offering a song that feels at home in quiet evenings, shared glances, and moments of reflection as much as festive gatherings.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
-
We Speak Music1 week agoMemory Spells Unleashes An Album That Glows With Human Connection
-
We Speak Music6 days agoPaul Archer Unleashes New Single ‘No Fear’
-
We Speak Music1 week ago
They Might Be Giants release video for Raspberries cover ‘Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)’
-
We Speak Music1 week ago
Christian Balvig offers up stunning first taster of new album in collaboration with Ensemble Hermes