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"I think I'm very aware of the spirit world around us all the time, but I don't find that creepy. I find that rather comforting."

Swirling stories of "magical or ghostly" ideas inform the musician's new album, "If On a Winter's Night." The song "Soul Cake," for example, is an old British Halloween ditty Sting remembers from his childhood about cakes made to offer to the spirits of the dead.

Not to be mistaken for a holiday album -- no Rudolphs or carrot-nosed snowmen here -- the album is a folksy toast to winter, Sting's favorite time of year, and the imagination and reflection the season inspires.