You must have heard, it’s Christmas,… again! And here they are again, these eternal songs that come back every year with the same boring arrangements and inanity. Is it that difficult to write new Christmas songs? I guess, because we have been playing the same old clichés for over a century. I stumbled on two new ones, and I am not talking about crappy Bob-Geldof-Do-they-Know-It’s Christmas’ territory – which wasn’t even a new song. No, these new ones are fantastic, very different in style, but they are gonna stir up your Xmas spirit forever!
First, indie LA band Jail Weddings has released a new totally epic song for the Holidays, featuring the large band accompanied by the Honey Child Choir and it is beyond bombastic! It has everything you can expect from a Christmas song, an overload of drama and passion, a deep-voiced over-the-top crooner (Gabriel Hart), an explosive choir with soaring orchestration that makes your head burst a few times,… yes it has everything you have ever wished for, except that the song is called ‘Godless Christmas’ in a complete atheist-style sabotage. Never mind, the tune takes you by the guts before making your jump at the top of your furniture, it’s a bit as if Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were singing a carol at the top of a mountain, and so it’s totally great. But Jail Weddings could write about the song much better than I could:
‘It is our absolute pleasure and relief (some two years in the making) to announce the release of “Godless Christmas” – our own dystopic entry into the shared hallucination of taunting nostalgia that only the holidays can bring! Listen, as we follow the revelations of a man who accidentally stumbles upon the meaning of life after he denounces Christmas altogether…If it strikes a chord within you, remember, this is the season for “sharing…” Huge thanks to Claire McKeown and our makeshift Honey Child Choir and Station House Studio for the usual wizardry and patience. Digital single available on CD Baby/ Itunes today. Cheers…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj9gG8jtCrM’
So I am totally sharing…
The second one is very different in style, far more melancholic, flirting with the sad side of the holidays, well it’s a collaboration between Band of Horses and Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, so we are not exactly talking about cheerful here! ’Hang an Ornament’ fills all your other needs, with fragile and smoothing vocals, a quiet guitar, emotive strings and synths, and these long Grandaddy-style’s aaahh-aaahh-aaahh-aaaaaaahhs that spread like hopeful sighs before breaking your heart apart, what can I say, it’s damn beautiful. Band of Horses had also something to say about the hymn-like tune:
‘How are you? Here is some news! We’re excited to tell you that we are in the studio working on a new album that we hope to release later in the coming year. We are working with the incredible Jason Lytle as producer. You may recognize his name as the head scientist of the band Grandaddy. We can’t wait to finish this thing up and get it out to y’all!
In more good news, we have also teamed up with Mr. Lytle for a Christmas kind of song to bring you some seasonal good tidings or something. You can stream it at http://bit.ly/hanganornament and download it from iTunes at http://smarturl.it/hanganornament.
Happiest Holidays to you all.
With Love,
Band of Horses’
Enjoy both songs!
