This was my attempt at a holiday/Christmas song, mainly inspired by Christmas songs by alternative rock bands like Christmastime by The Smashing Pumpkins & The Christmas Song by Weezer.
 
Some Christmassy elements in the song, for lack of a better word, are the very obvious & ever present sound of jingle bells, as well as multiple acoustic guitars, & a flute for a woodsy/cozy To Grandmothers House We Go type-feel. 

Some early feedback from a friend was that it was sounding like a song by The Cure, so I started leaning into that, adding strings to the arrangement.

The chorus, verse & pre-chorus riffs were all written around the same time. The bridge/solo section is a variation on the pre-chorus riff, with a British post-punk inspired distortion guitar tone, inspired by The Smiths & other bands of their era. I found the bridge/solo section started sounding a bit like the theme song to the tv show The Kids in the Hall, Having an Average Weekend by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

This song was notated in Guitar Pro, with the MIDI/RSE audio files exported & mixed in Garage Band. Additional editing was done in Garage Band, then sheet music was altered in Guitar Pro to reflect this when necessary.

A Cure for Christmas (Demo 18 )(Completed Reference Track)(2023)

For Future Reference