Smith & Burrows- 'Funny Looking Angels'
One of the finest indulgences of winter tide, nestled amongst the Quality Street and tacky jumpers, has to be the cult of the 'Christmas song'. You may pretend to be sick of them once you've heard Shakin' Stevens on the radio for the fiftieth time in an afternoon, but these festive classics have got a big part to play in our holiday experience. Why? Because deep down, it brings out that little glimmer of emotion that you only feel this time of year. It's a rich mix of feelings and memories- some happy, some sad; but all special. It's in this spirit that Tom Smith of Editors and Razorlight's Andy Burrows have got together to produce an absolute darling of an album in the shape of 'Funny Looking Angels'.
Opening with a cinematically dramatic chill in their working of 'In The Bleak Midwinter', Smith & Burrows embark on ten tracks that beautifully capture the purity of innocence that Christmas songs used to have. These are two chaps that have a genuine love for those old classics; an understanding that shines through in their own festive track, 'When The Thames Froze'. It's got the perfect balance of romance, sentiment, ringing bells, soaring harmonies... and even the sound of a marching band. If that wasn't enough to warm your winter cockles, maybe 'This Ain't New Jersey' will do it better for you. It's a different kind of sentimentality on this one. The sweetly relatable lyricisms recount the annual bickerings and traditions we all have as we listen to 'those same old songs every single year. We drink, we sing- what a state we're in... but it's Christmas my dear.' This record is gluttonous in it's working through the Christmas song checklist- but is that not what the season is all about? If you haven't gained a stone come January you've experienced a festive fail.
As well as the Christmas classics new and old (including a sumptuously down-tempo rendition of 'The Christmas Song' that Smith's voice was made for) there are a handful of off-kilter covers to look forward to. Black's brilliant 'Wonderful Life' is refreshed in a percussion-driven performance before Andy Burrows lends an impossibly sweet vocal to a jingle bell-laced rendition of 'Only You'. Okay, they may not be as outwardly Christmassy as if they had decided to tell you that last Christmas they gave you their heart, but the very next day, you gave it away. (You swine.) But the warm blanket of emotive atmosphere and the hankering for a mince pie that's evoked suggest that they have embodied that sense of yule tide joy just right.
An album for lovers of Christmas songs, made by lovers of Christmas songs. It's not too late for Santa to pick this one up...