A Near Thing -28

Getting real is the hackneyed hope of truth to power, a sad devaluation of the ineffable pain of culture/race/class/belief struggling by Talkin’ ‘Bout It. Plugging that sympathetic ear onto the Almost Christmas idea leads us a merry chase.

Getting Ready for Christmas Day” becomes a cry of pain within the folksy Afropop of Paul Simon. Stand ready for a revival sermonizing solo. Professionally done, but the anti-capitalist sneer dressed up with danceability hurts my sensibility. It’s not preachin’, it’s bleaching.

Agorophobicly, Amanda Cottreau leans in with ASMR to sultry-folk the stay-at-home message “Almost Christmas.” Too many crowds, choices, costs for this to be the best time of year. She’s rather stay home and close-whisper.

Chris Garneau plays up the irony with a similar anti-commercial message in the tinkly, glowing, intimate lullaby “It’s Almost Christmas.” The addition of how we fix corporate greed with hand-mades helps.