PENARTH-born drum and base DJ High Contrast has released a protest song about Christmas song this week (December 19).

High Contrast, whose real name is Lincoln Barrett, has written a punk rock song about the consumerism that surrounds Christmas and how the ‘true meaning’ of Christmas has been lost.

The song has been created as part of a co-commission by Welsh National Opera and The Space in a digital project called Occupation - five songs that shook the world.

New songs are being created by artists Carleen Anderson, Judith Weir, Cerys Matthews, High Contrast and Dan-Wyn Jones to reflect events of crises, protest and acts of resistance as they unfold.

The songs wills be released on the Occupation website and shared across social media channels to invite public debate

High Contrast, the son of former Cardiff South and Penarth AM Lorraine Barrett, said about his song: “I wanted to get involved in this project because there seem to be so few political or protest songs made today. Compare the output of songwriters today to those during the 60s and 70s and we really seem to have taken a step backwards. Perhaps this reflects the fact that so many people today are just not politically switched on and/or are apathetic towards political systems in general, seemingly ignoring the fact that people will continue to be the product of politics whether they are consciously involved or not.

“As my song is coming out on December 19, it seemed fitting to make something that related to Christmas. I have always been struck by the juxtaposition of the ideals and iconography of Christmas with the unashamed consumerism that goes with it. The 'true meaning' of Christmas seems to have been completely swallowed by the capitalist machine. And the ongoing horrors of our world form an uneasy backdrop to the celebrations for me.”

High Contrast, whose father Paul Barrett was also the former manager of Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets, added that the song was also different from his usual style.

“The style of my song is influenced by punk rock - aggressive, raw, a bit obnoxious,” he said.

“This seems like a good switch from the usual idea of protest songs being folk ballads. And there is in fact a strong tradition of punk/hardcore protest songs such as You Are The Government by Bad Religion and The Bright Lights of America by Anti-Flag. And there are even anti-Christmas punk songs like Oi! to the World by The Vandals. This is not a style of music I am usually associated with so it is an interesting challenge for me, using guitars instead of synthesizers, though I was in a punk band when I was a teenager!”

High Contrast’s song is the fourth in the series, while up-and-coming composer Dan-Wyn Jones will close the project with a song whose lyrics will be inspired by comments and quotes from the public collected over the course of the project.

Anyone can contribute to this song by joining the discussion on Twitter @_FiveSongs and using the hashtag #Song5 to let him know your thoughts about liberty, freedom and democracy.

For more information about Occupation, including photos, videos and guest blogs, visit the website and follow @_FiveSongs on Twitter.

High Contrast’s song will also be available from Friday lunchtime as a free download from - https://soundcloud.com/groups/occupation-five-songs-that-shook-the-world and the accompanying video will be available from - http://www.occupation.org.uk/artists/high-contrast