Winter Sounds with Tom Hobden

Winter Sounds with Tom Hobden

For our Winter Playlist, we asked strings maestro - and Original Fibres flag flyer - Tom Hobden to create a playlist based on our music collection at 101 Golborne Road. More specifically, we wanted a playlist to take us into Christmas lunch and then beyond it. The eclectic and well-rounded result is a real treat. We also took the chance to ask him a few questions about his favourite things around Christmas.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

The Christmas after I left home, my Mum and Dad gave me a hand written recipe book with all my favourite home-cooked meals in there. Shame Mum never taught me to cook, but over the year’s I’ve slowly worked on my craft - there’s no way my attempts will ever taste as good as when my Mum cooks them though!

What’s the best gift you’ve ever given?

My family and I are true board game addicts. Each Christmas we buy a family game that we devour over the course of the festive period. The majority I’d say gather dust in the cupboard but back in 2019 I bought Wingspan, a game which may not sound much on paper - players build up habitats by adding bird cards, laying eggs, collecting food etc - but which has gone on to be an absolute mainstay, even now, at pretty much every family gathering!

What do you think is the most underrated element of Christmas?

The singing! I love Christmas so much that I’m in a “seasonal" band called The Heathen And The Holy, alongside my Noah and the Whale bandmate Fred Abbott and we’ve written a Christmas song every year for the last 11 years now. This year’s no exception and our song “The Heavenly Host” (out now) is about this very subject - there is nothing that gets you into the Christmas spirit quite like singing, whether that’s carols in a church, Christmas songs around a pub piano or singing along to a Christmas playlist while you decorate the tree. It’s instantly nostalgic and ultimately fun, an instant cure if you feel like Christmas is passing you by.