Gerard Way drops holiday song featuring the Regrettes’ Lydia Night

Gerard Way makes your heartstrings jangle on his new single “Dasher,” creating an emotional misé en scene that’s achingly familiar to people who require an airport to be in the arms of a loved one this holiday season.

On “Dasher,” three-quarters of Way’s band, the Hormones—guitarist Ian Fowles, bassist Matt Gorney and drummer Jarrod Alexander— join the vocalist/guitarist alongside producer Doug McKean.

Read more: Gerard Way’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ trailer is finally here

Lydia Night, kickass ingenue for the Regrettes, delivers a spoken-word monologue in the middle that definitely sounds like a voice-mail message you may have heard a version of at one point in your life.

Maybe you like to eavesdrop on the melancholy conversations of lovers at all-night diners. You might love crying at all the flight gate scenes in Love Actually. Perhaps you’re so overwhelmed by the desire to have someone love you unconditionally (despite your fractured psyche and questionable hygiene habits), that you’ve accidentally made My Chemical Romance’s “Summertime” the No. 1 song on your Spotify Wrapped list. It’s totally cool. Because this Christmas, friends, Way has got your number.

“‘Dasher’ is about a girl who falls in love with a reindeer,” Way says. “The reindeer thinks she’s pretty great too. They have adventures, they talk about life. The song is also about the magic sometimes hidden in the mundane.”

Way previously performed a version of “Dasher” a handful of times live. The singer also revealed on Twitter in 2014 that he originally wrote it for Hesitant Alien, but it was left unfinished.

Check out the track below.

Gerard Way and this year’s new releases

“Dasher” is Way’s third song this year. It follows “Baby, You’re A Haunted House” and “Getting Down The Germs,” which were released in October and November respectively.

“Getting Down The Germs” features former MCR bandmate Ray Toro (bass, drums). Flautist Sara Andon, who has played in symphony orchestras and on film scores, also contributes to the track.

“I had really been wanting a song that featured the flute prominently for quite some time,” Way says about the track, which sounds like a hybrid mix of ’70s-rock stalwarts as the Rolling Stones and Traffic, laced with a contemporary swagger that’s quintessentially Gerard.

“It sits in there perfectly, like it was made to pay the song a visit,” he continues. “The whole song reminds me of wiggling, squiggling, wormy germs. It’s a very calm affair that shows a peek into where I may be heading musically. I hope you enjoy it. It was fun to make.”

Prior to “Germ” and October’s “Baby, You’re A Haunted House,” the last we heard from Way was another Toro matchup. The duo dropped two songs for a Record Store Day 2017 release (“Into The Cave We Wander” and “Pogi’s Cavern”).

If you think this song is another holiday fluke and rock ’n’ roll has lost Way to the world of comics and animation, well, you better find another doomsday prediction. Rumor has it Way has a record in the works, slated to be completed and released sometime next year.