Lindsey Stirling ‘snow waltzing’ into Cedar Rapids’ Alliant Energy PowerHouse

When 2022 arrived, violinist Lindsey Stirling was at a musical crossroad.

She had created a unique sound for herself by merging classical and electronic music over the course of four previous studio albums. Her sound had brought her considerable acclaim and popularity — with all four albums topping the dance and classical charts.

But Stirling felt she had pretty much explored the possibilities within her classical/electronic dance music fusion. It was time for a departure, time to find a new sound.

But there was a problem.

“I was trying to work on my next original album and nothing was really coming. I was feeling a lot of blockage,” Stirling said in a late-October phone interview. “I never felt inspired to write during COVID, and then even as we were coming out of it, I still was like ‘I’m coming up blank.’”

That’s when things took a detour.

“I took a session and did a holiday song,” Stirling said. “And it just flowed so naturally — and writing was fun again. So I was just like, ‘You know what, this year is calling for a Christmas album.’ It’s just what I apparently wanted to do, even though I didn’t know that.”

  Buy Photo

The Christmas album in question is the 2022 album “Snow Waltz.” It’s Stirling’s second holiday release, following the 2017 album “Warmer in the Winter.” Stirling is doing a holiday tour this year in support of “Snow Waltz,” and will bring her extravaganza to the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids on Dec. 2, 2023.

“I decided to start working on it in February (of 2022),” she said of the album. “And to meet the deadline, it had to be done by, gosh, the end of April. It was very quick. So it kind of just flowed naturally. It came out fast, thank heavens, but I’m really proud of it.”

New sound

“Snow Waltz” is quite different stylistically and sonically from “Warmer in the Winter.”

“With ‘Warmer in the Winter,’ I wanted to almost use it as an excuse to depart from my own sound in a fun way,” Stirling said. “I was like I’m going to really lean into the traditional Christmas sounds, and that’s very sweeping orchestras, and we had some big band songs on there and I actually recorded with a live band. It was really fun to do that and like I said, so different. ... Previous to that, I’d done all electronic.”

“Snow Waltz” is more like Stirling’s four non-holiday albums, featuring more of an electronic sonic palate over which her violin takes center stage as the lead instrument.

“This one is kind of a fusion between the two,” she said. “I thought, rather than me leaning so far into what I think Christmas has traditionally sounded like, I’m going to take a little bit of me and my sound that I’ve done for years and I’m going to combine the two. So that was the attempt of this album.”

That sound fits nicely with the thematic vision Stirling had for “Snow Waltz,” where she wanted to inject a bit of Halloween spookiness into the festive sounds of the Christmas season.

“I had the idea to meld like Halloween has ended,” she said, “but the skeletons stuck around and accidentally discovered Christmas, and what would they think?”

The result on “Snow Waltz” is a decidedly modern and unique Christmas album. The spooky facet emerges strongly on the title track, where Stirling’s violin works hand in hand with a haunting musical backdrop, a ghostly treatment of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” a version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” that’s re-imagined in a martial tempo and “Ice Storm,” which feels like a prelude to the impending cold, dreary days of winter.

But the happy spirit of Christmas is very much alive on familiar songs like “Sleigh Ride,” “Joy to the World,” which features some inventive elaboration on violin from Stirling, and “Feliz Navidad,” which gallops along to a south-of-the-border beat, as well as the peppy original “Crazy For Christmas” (co-written by Stirling and Bonnie McKee) and “Magic,” a warm original, which features David Archuleta on vocals.

  Buy Photo

In the beginning

Stirling began developing her sound and performing approach about 15 years ago. She first tried to break through by appearing on “America’s Got Talent” in 2010, showcasing her classical/EDM sound and her ability to dance while playing violin. But she was voted off the show, with judge Piers Morgan saying she was “not untalented, but you’re not good enough, I don’t think, to get away with flying through the air and trying to play violin at the same time.”

Stung by Morgan’s critique, but determined, Stirling launched her own YouTube channel. Her videos caught on, generating enough activity that she was signed by Lady Gaga’s manager, Troy Carter.

This led to the release of Stirling’s self-titled debut album in 2012. Three more albums — 2014’s “Shatter Me,” 2016’s “Brave Enough” and 2019’s “Artemis” — followed as she refined her classical-meets-EDM sound, did multiple tours and amassed several gold and platinum album certifications.

Christmas tour

Stirling is excited to bring together her two holiday albums this fall on the latest edition of what’s becoming an annual Christmas tour. Once again, fans can expect a beautiful stage set, new choreography from Stirling and her dancers, and some accomplished playing from Stirling.

“It’s been really fun to get to marry the two albums together and make it like a nice hybrid of what I think is kind of the best mix from both my first Christmas album and now my second one,” Stirling said.

“It’s a super fun show. It’s going to be really energetic. There’s also going to be some really sweet, soft moments and then ending with like a big bang of stuff we’ve never done before, including some aerial routines we worked really hard to learn,” she said. “I’ll be singing, but mostly playing the violin. It’s so fun.”

If she makes good on her intentions, “Snow Waltz” will mark the end of the classical/EDM musical phase for Stirling — at least for a while.

As it turns out, making “Snow Waltz” triggered a new round of creativity, and Stirling thinks she’s found what she was looking for before making “Snow Waltz.”

“While I was doing this Christmas album, I did take several sessions to kind of go back. Now that I’m having fun writing again, can I find something (new)?” she said. “And I will say I think I’ve found it.

“I’m really excited about this next sound. It was not what I was expecting. I was chasing pretty straight-up rock for a while and it just wasn’t feeling right. Nothing was coming that felt like it was inspired to me. And I found, yet again, a really fun fusion. It has elements of rock, it has elements of cinema, like very cinematic,” she said.

“I’m very excited about this new sound.”