Even on paper (well, screen) this is a tantalising prospect. Especially if you are a fan of shoegaze music – Dean & Britta (once of Luna)with indie legend Sonic Boom (once of Spaceman 3).Then factor in that this is a seasonal album…and you’re already onto a winner. That’s before you get the chance to play it – and in this case, the lovely PR folk sent it to me on lovely green vinyl (honestly, not the only reason why I’m going to be so favourable to this awesome album).
Many years ago, as one third of seminal shoegaze/dreampop/slowcore (delete as appropriate) Galaxie 500, Dean Wareham helped to helm a stunning version of Yoko Ono’s ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling.’ The song was originally the b-side to John Lennon and Yoko‘s ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)‘ (more about which later).It crops up on numerous alternative Christmas playlists – and it’s not hard to imagine much of this album following suit.
Back in October, the first track to do the rounds from the album was the cover of ‘Pretty Paper,’ originally written by Willie Nelson and first recorded by Roy Orbison sixty years ago. This version is a dreamy, synth-propelled version that sees the song soar. I was faced with a gorgeous Christmas tune, long before I was meant to even be thinking about playing Christmas tunes. While there are cover versions galore here, the trio have managed to avoid descending into cliche. So when they do ‘Silent Night’ it’s in German (‘Stille Nacht’) and ‘Peace On Earth – The Little Drummer Boy’ owes far less to David Bowie and Bing Crosby, and far more to Marlene Dietrich.
There’s hints of other musical styles here, ‘Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Made?’ evokes Nancy Sinatra or Nico circa Chelsea GIrl, in a lovely chamber pop style. There’s also the country stylings of Merle Haggard’s ‘If We Make It Through December’ which is wistful although not as harrowing as Phoebe Bridger’s gut punch version from a couple of years ago.Finally, the closing version of ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ is all too poignant, with current world events, but an excellent close to a brilliant album.
Sure, there are no shortage of Christmas albums out there. Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift For You may be the standard by which all others are measured, even sixty years after its release. Twenty-five years ago Low released the stunning Christmas mini-album, and this century Tracey Thorn’s Tinsel And Lights is one of the finest additions to the canon. Yet A Peace Of Us is an album that will surely take its place among them.
