Written by: Alex Green

“…There is nothing heavier than compassion,” Milan Kundera wrote in The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. “Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.”

“Season Of Love,” which is our Track of the Day today comes from the L.A. musician Alison Freebairn-Smith, who, in light of the recent tragedy in San Bernardino, felt those very same echoes Kundera wrote about. A aural response to not only the aforementioned event but to gun violence all over the world, Freebairn-Smith’s “Season Of Love” is an achingly beautiful ballad that perfectly balances empathy and feeling with the excesses of the holiday season. Her voice is poetic and elegant and the song is a sweeping, heartbreaking look at the sadness that quickly washes in after a storm of violence.

Freebairn-Smith’s song challenges us not only to feel, but to do something with that feeling. It reminds us that every second that we have each other is a rare and beautiful pleasure that should never be taken for granted.

It also reminds us that a world without love is no world at all.

On her Facebook page Freebairn-Smith wrote: “I wrote this song because I had something I needed to say. Then, an angel made it possible for me to record it with a producer whose credits include JD Souther, KD Lang, Bill Frissell, Billy Idol, Billy Childs. She brought me Evan Hillhouse and in four hours, we had this record…I’m asking everyone to donate $1 (or whatever they can) to the San Bernardino United Relief Fund which aids the families of the victims in whatever way they need help. Wishing all of you a season of love . . .”

You can donate here: