Where a lot of Catholic Christmas hymns lean into the more fantastical elements—angels, stars, kings—“In the Bleak Midwinter” points us instead to the ordinary.

Jesuit missionary Jacques de Brébeuf worked with the Indigenous Huron people for years and wanted to give the people a carol of their own, in their own language.

Who is this King Wenceslas fella? What makes him good? And why does he merit a song at Christmas?

Will Toledo, the founder and lead singer of the band, often uses his music as an outlet to examine his teenage feelings as a young gay man in northern Virginia.

How is a song used in 100 holiday ads somehow connected to Ukraine? It turns out every carol that we sing at Christmas has a story behind it, some inspiring, some strange.

Listening to the album anew, I can see how Carey’s songs shed light on the spiritual and psychological struggles of children of divorce (like Mariah Carey and I).