Kevin Bronson on May 19th, 2022

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Saint Christopher is the solo project of Christopher Kalil, a one-man font of pop songs who was one-quarter of Arms Akimbo before departing the L.A. pop-rock outfit in early 2021. By then, he’d plowed through the pandemic by issuing two buzzy mixtapes and was on his way to releasing a third.

Some might call that winning, but a funny thing happened on the way to his victory lap. Last June, he underwent surgery to have a tumor (it was benign) removed from his stomach. “I had just lost my job, lost my band, lost my house, and now I could barely move,” he says. “It was not an ideal situation. I tried my best to get better quick. But patience works better than willpower. The only thing that would heal me was to lie down and wait. Sit with the pain and not try to change it. So that’s what I did.”

“Winners,” the lead single from Saint Christopher’s album, “is about healing the right way. The hard way,” Kalil says.

The album, titled “Pop Shit,” will be out Oct. 7, and it comes advertised as a blend of pop, folk, emo and soul, with some serious and not-so-serious commentary on religion, culture and the music biz.

Far from wallowing in woe-is-me, “Winners” is a snappy pop number propelled by beats so caffeinated it’s as if they can’t wait to get to Kalil’s infectious chorus. “Ain’t no livin’ if you ain’t been wrong / Harder than ever when it’s taking this long,” he sings.

Premiering here, “Winners” is officially out on Friday.

||| Stream: “Winners”