Barlow’s jazzy Christmas
Jazz crooner Emilie-Claire Barlow knows the reputation of most Christmas records: Quickies to cash in on the season.
Which is why she treated her second Christmas album, Lumieres d’hiver, with the same care she has treated everything else during her 20-year career. The way she sees it, if her name’s on it, it belongs with the rest of her discography — Christmas or not.
“I don’t look at making a Christmas album any different than making a regular album,” she says. “I put just as much effort, as much time and as much resources into it. I don’t believe in just banging out a Christmas album.
“All of my energy and heart and mind is with this music and with this album right now. In January, when I take a breath, then I’ll think about what I might do next.”
For now, the Toronto-born singer is working the holidays with a 27-date tour that takes her to FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines Monday, Dec. 18, for what’s looking like her final Canadian concert in awhile.
She’ll spend Christmas at the Cotton Club in Tokyo, playing four shows Dec. 22 to 25.
“Being on stage, playing music with my band, is one of my favourite things in the world to do. So I’m really happy to be (playing Christmas). But I’ll be ready for a break after that, don’t get me wrong.”
Released in November, Lumières d’hiver comes 11 years after Barlow’s first Christmas album, Winter Wonderland. In addition to standards such as I’ll Be Home For Christmas, she takes a crack at more modern Christmas classics including Wilson Phillips’ Hey
Santa from 1993.
“And I also co-wrote three original songs, which is a first for me on this album as well,” she says.
“I wanted it to be a mix of nostalgia — at Christmas, people look to familiar things, and things that bring them comfort — and also something fresh.”
Performing the songs can feel like a pressure cooker, however: “You really only have a short window of time to play it, to listen to it, to enjoy it. We kind of drown ourselves in it in December.
“It’s kind of a funny thing. There are songs about all kinds of seasons that we listen to all year-round — Autumn in New York, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, Summer Time — but if it’s a song about winter, even if the song doesn’t mention Christmas at all, it gets associated with Christmas.
“For me, it’s just nice to have an opportunity to revisit that material that we don’t get to do very often.”
On the surface, at least, it’s certainly a more festive album than Barlow’s previous release — 2015’s Juno-winning Clear Day. Though sprinkled with light moments, it was Barlow’s breakup album.
“It’s been a great couple of years since then,” she says.
While Barlow’s recent albums still cover the jazz essentials, she’s less concerned with being branded ‘pop’ than ever. To her, the line has been blurred to the point of inconsequence.
“I didn’t feel any pressure at all — this is my 11th record, and I think I have a pretty clear voice, generally speaking, in what I want to say musically,” she says. “I didn’t want to get bogged down by what genre I should be doing.
“I love sophisticated pop like James Taylor, Sting … I just wanted to make an album that reflected my musical tastes. That’s what I’ve done, and not really worried about ‘Is it jazz? Is it pop?’ I don’t know, and I don’t really care.”