A deranged family is enough to make Matthew McLaughlin feel disconnected from the “Holiday“. Plenty more beef in this peppy alt-pop, but it’s all unbalanced.
Radar & Satellite singa bout hope and joy in “Christmastime“, but their creepy vocals and thrashing metal backup make me uneasy. The parts about Santa knowing all your lies, or losing your spouse are not traditions in my domicile.
The loss of faith and friends is also not on my list of Xmas affirmations, but Lori McKenna makes a seven course out of her “Grateful“–an idea she aspires to rather than embraces. Folk.
Make Like Monkeys is my goto for fun holiday retro pop, but they have a dark side. “Christmas Doesn’t Last” is about drunken failing; “Isn’t It Christmas?” is existential angst; and “Hollow Holiday” is just mopey. Bummed now.
Valerie Warntz wants to “Shake Up Christmas” and she spins a tremulous tale of a boy and girl on opposites ends of the world wishing for love… but the folk pop song ends with no resolution. Well, crap.
The loss of Father Christmas sets off a “Cynical Christmas” for Wild Earp & The Free For Alls. Honky tonk blues that also gives up on Jesus. Look out.
“A Not so Merry Christmas” occurs when love is lost, so say The Boxmasters. Sashaying indie pop, bordering on 1956 RnR.