After founding as a four-piece in 2009, indie hip-hop outfit Twenty One Pilots were reduced to the duo of vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun when fellow founding members Nick Thomas and Chris Salih departed in 2011. That might have derailed lesser bands, but Twenty One Pilots refocused, and have enjoyed a huge amount of success over the last decade or so in this guise.

They’ve amassed a sizeable back catalogue since, but remain best known for their songs Heathens, Ride, and Stressed Out, all taken from their 2015 album Blurryface. For the latter track, the group received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo / Group Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, while Blurryface itself has sold over 1.5 million copies in the USA to date.

Trench, their fifth studio album and the follow up to Blurryface, dropped in 2018 after being recorded in secret during an apparent year-long hiatus. It was an intriguing offering, a concept album that dealt with themes related to mental health that was told through the lens of the metaphorical city of Dema and the surrounding valley known as Trench.

New single Christmas Saves The Year is a very different number, however. It’s a mournful track, set against some simple piano with festive bells and sweet effects, and it sees Joseph reflect: “Dust off old photo boxes / This one’s marked ‘92 / Years past seemed so much grander / This one needs to come through” Lyrically, there can’t be many bands out there that have tapped so perfectly into the Coronavirus Christmas lockdown zeitgeist than Twenty One Pilots who, with the couplet “But everybody wants to make it home this year / Even if the world is crumbling down” have pretty much nailed what every single one of us is thinking. Such succinct observation, coupled with the beautiful melody illuminating the track, means that Christmas Saves The Year is a nailed on choice for everyone’s festive playlist this year.

Listen to the official audio for Christmas Saves The Year here.

Find out more about Twenty One Pilots on their official website.

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.