Browsing Tag

Christmas Single

All James delivered an instant Christmas classic with the festive neo-classic pop reverie in ‘Best Time of Year’

Posted on 1 November 2024
All James

All James’ latest score, Best Time of Year, carves a niche in the Christmas music scene, an ambitious feat given the competition with time-honoured classics. Right from the outset, the classic strings strike an affecting chord, setting an emotionally heightened tone. As the track unfolds, All James’ affinity for Coldplay is apparent in the poignant minor key piano progressions, yet this influence never overshadows the ornate sublimity of the neo-classic pop production.

The artist’s accoladed musical project, renowned for blending pop with orchestral soundscapes, draws from a diverse palette of inspiration, juxtaposing the signatures of Hans Zimmer, Enya and Kodaline within a bedrock of cultivation that only years of blood, sweat and tears can construct. Best Time of Year is a testament to this rich influence, characterised by lush orchestral arrangements interwoven with contemporary pop nuances.

The single is a canvas of connectivity, inviting listeners to forget the commercialism often associated with the season and reconnect with its true meaning. James’ composition nudges you to rekindle a passion for the festive period’s magic, echoing the emotive power of iconic holiday scores like the closing sequence in ‘The Snowman’.

Best Time of Year will reach all major streaming platforms on November 1st; find your preferred way to listen via All James’ official website.

Follow the artist on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date with their latest releases.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Have a very chamber pop Christmas with Beware of Trains’ melancholy score, Forever Home

Posted on 24 November 2023

Beware of Trains stepped out of an anachronistic music box and onto the airwaves to share the histrionically ornate single, Forever Home, which carries all the glamour of the West End and all the alternative allure of the Legendary Pink Dots and Jason Webley.

The chamber pop orchestration unravels as a snow-capped fairy tale of a festive single; the all-bells and no whistles production takes the ordinary Christmas single and enchants it to the nth degree.

The origin of the single stems back to 2019 when Beware of Trains performed ‘A Kitmas Concert’ at Bradford Cathedral with members of Opera North to raise funds for Allerton Cat Rescue. Inspired by the charity’s slogan, ‘Helping cats and kittens find their furever home’, songwriter, Leighton Jones wanted to explore the sense of longing and belonging conjured by the phrase. If there’s any time of the year when the need to belong reaches its wistful peak, it is the festive holidays. If you can relate, prepare for the scintillating resonance and grab a few tissues. It hits harder than the end of Raymond Brigg’s symphonic poem, the Snowman.

In their own words:

“Forever Home is a symphonic festive tale that transports us into a snow globe and whisks us away through snowy Yorkshire fields and skies, revelling in the nostalgic sense of homecoming the festive season brings. But the song is also tinged with bittersweet melancholy, reflecting on the passing years and sadness of saying goodbye to the people and places we love and hold dear.”

Forever Home was officially released on November 24th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Urban Cafe Crew unleashed their classically contemporary tinsel-wrapped perennial pop earworm, ‘Baby It’s Christmas’

Posted on 22 November 2023

Urban Cafe Crew wrapped a perennial pop earworm in tinsel to deliver the catchiest Christmas single since Mariah Carey dominated the festive sonic landscape with All I Want for Christmas is You.

Hit play on Baby It’s Christmas by the eclectic Australian music collective and instantly succumb to the modern spin on the classic Christmas motifs. From the first beat following the swells of classic strings, you’ll register that Baby It’s Christmas sets itself apart from the usual holiday fare.

From the bells to the butter-wouldn’t-melt croons to the keys working in complete synergy with the percussion to raise the energy, Baby It’s Christmas ticks all the sentimental boxes while oozing cross-generational appeal. It has been a while since a Christmas single melodiously moved with the times while keeping sonic traditions alive; Urban Cafe Crew achieved the feat effortlessly.

Even if you usually recoil to the tune of White Christmas on the radio when November rolls around, you won’t be able to resist turning a smile as you hum the exhilaratingly vibrant melody.

Baby It’s Christmas was officially released on November 10th. Unwrap it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jeff Jepson has released his haunting hymnal gem, The Good-Night Song

Posted on 18 November 2023

The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Jeff Jepson is set to garner a fresh wave of impassioned reverence with his Christmas-tinged EP, Sparkle. If this is your first acquaintance with the artist who rose to fame in Liverpool and has recently replanted his musical roots in the Isle of Man, the standout single, The Good-Night Song, is the perfect introduction to the master of poignant melody.

Whether it was the finiteness in the lyricism or the way the acoustic guitar’s euphonic rings intensified the affecting sting within the captivating vocal delivery in the arrangement which visualises the sparseness of winter branches, I couldn’t help but shed a tear as Jepson’s evocatively honeyed timbres quivered in the frost of the hymnal gem which will haunt you long past the outro.

The Sparkle EP illuminated the airwaves on November 10th; kindle your affinity with the 4-track release via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spend your ‘Christmas Mornin’ with the slick RnB debut single from Jaai.

Posted on 23 December 2022

Channelling the timeless soul of Ella Fitzgerald and the slick impassioned style of Sade, the Atlanta-based gospel RnB singer-songwriter Jaai. helped her fans to celebrate ‘Christmas Mornin’ with the chilled jazzy vibe in her debut single.

The smoothly uplifting single, released on December 2nd, proves just how much Christmas music has evolved since Mariah Carey started topping the Christmas charts every year. Jaai. is on truly sublime form in Christmas Mornin, which flows to the subtle seduction of boom-bap beats and her celestially elegant vocal timbre that would leave you with a shiver if it wasn’t so warming.

The single takes away any sense of novelty away from Christmas music and strips commercialism from the holiday itself, as it reminds you that Christmas is a day like every other, where joy revolves around the people that light up our lives. The artificial lights, no matter how bright, could never compare.

Christmas Mornin’ is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Conner Eko has released his pensive pop-rock single, Christmas Morning Goodbye

Posted on 12 December 2021

With songwriting skills that would give Gary Barlow a run for his money, Conner Eko has delivered the Christmas song we never knew we needed with ‘Christmas Morning Goodbye’.

The pop-rock crossover track starts with a simple, festive piano melody before it picks up momentum with searing hot guitars blazing through the soundscape around Eko’s resounding, unfaltering vocals. For anyone who likes their festive music with an air of melancholy, Christmas Morning Goodbye is the ultimate December playlist staple.

The official music video for Conner Eko’s single, Christmas Morning Goodbye, premiered on December 3rd. It is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LINN KRISTIN has released the most compassionately nuanced Christmas single you’ll hear this year with ‘Home’.

Posted on 11 December 2021

Home is the latest hauntingly soulful single from singer-songwriter LINN KRISTIN, which may be the most nuanced Christmas single to have ever hit the airwaves. Home was created in recognition of the grief and conflict that emerges at Christmas – despite what social media lets you see. It delivers the essential reminder that friends are just as important as family, and if they’re the people that keep you mentally afloat while your family send you under, that’s more ok,

The atmospheric verses allude to the detachment felt in the absence of the people that complete us, while the strident chorus crescendos complete with festive bells depict the sweeter than sweet feeling of finding your centre of gravity in someone.

The emotional intelligence in Home carries a profoundness rarely heard on the radio. Combined with the fact that LINN KRISTIN carries just as much poise and panache as Winehouse; we can’t help but get excited about what is in store for this empathetically stunning artist.

Home is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

James Jones – Christmas Passed (Feat. Olawale)

Posted on 1 January 2021

When you can count supporters as diverse as Eamonn Holmes and the great Dave Swarbrick, something’s clearly going well for you; James Jones had his first gig at the age of 11 as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of London at Cardiff International Arena. Since then he’s gone on to support Swarbrick, his childhood inspiration, and performed at the BBC Proms In The Park.

‘Christmas Passed’ is Jones’ new single, from his album of classical and jazz-inspired pop songs due for release on the 29th December; featuring the wonderful vocals of Olawale Ojo (the winner of Project Fame West Africa) over Jones’ beautiful fingerstyle mildly jazzy classical guitar accompaniment. It’s an exquisite piece of work, the melody line of the guitar perfectly complimenting Ojo’s sublime voice, never intrusive but shadowing and balancing in a stunning counterpoint.

Hear ‘Christmas Passed’ on Spotify.

Review by Alex Holmes