As we approach what may be an exceedingly difficult holiday season for most, Bop Alloy returns with Winter Breaks 2 hoping to end an abysmal year on a high note.

The tracks on Winter Breaks 2 exude light, warmth, honesty, and hope from every pore, which is exactly what you’ve come to expect from the intercontinental jazz hip hop duo.
One of the project’s standout tracks, “What’s it Without You” aptly captures the sentiment of the year with Substantial rapping, “Rather embrace the pain than run and hide from the truth/ that’s my point of view/ hard to know what to do/ supposed to be 2020, our whole perspective is skewed/”. Pismo’s angelic vocal arrangement (which could easily be mistaken as a small choir) and T. Lucas’ emotional letter to his father and everyone who lost loved ones this year hit differently.

But as always, even in times of global crisis and uncertainty, Bop Alloy chooses to accentuate the positive on tracks like “Our Message”, “Same Energy”, and “‘Twas the Night Before”, which plays like a much cooler, (and way less rapey) jazz-club duet version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” featuring a spectacular performance from Debórah Bond reminiscent of Ella in her prime. The duo ends the album with a poignant tribute to the parents who work miracles year after year to keep the holiday spirit alive for their children no matter the sacrifices. If Bop Alloy’s Winter Breaks isn’t already part of your holiday tradition, then 2020 might be the perfect year for you to try something new.