Irresistible rise of Yungblud
Kelly Jones shines in solo effort without Stereophonics and new music from Sigur Ros
IF VETERAN desert noir band Calexico releasing a Christmas album is a tale of the unexpected, what is also surprising is just how good it is.
John Burns says he and other main member John Convertino intended to record a six-track EP, but kept on going, with a mix of originals and covers recorded with friends around the world.
Opening track – “let ‘em ring on New Year’s Day” – is classic Calexico with a festive twist, mournful brass and lyrics about drinking “mezcal on Sunday with tears in our eyes”.
The title track is a gentle ballad about the ritual of preparing for the holidays when “everything will be fine” despite the Christmas tree nearly catching on fire.
The faithful cover of John Lennon & Yoho Ono’s seems superfluous, but overall
is a welcomed addition to the limited genre of alt-country festive albums, led by Low’s superlative 1999
Dominic Harrison
WAY, way back in 2002, just as they were starting to carve a niche for themselves on the international stage, atmospheric rockers Sigur Ros were invited for a collaboration with a host of other Icelandic musicians including national treasure Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, fisherman, chanter and prior collaborator Steindor Andersen, and Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir of contemporaries aniima.
That roll call may not catapult the record to the top of many UK Christmas lists – but it should.
Released 18 years after it was performed live only a handful of times,
an epic Norse tale told through a brooding blend of post-rock and contemporary classical. And, frankly, it’s a travesty it’s been kept from us this long.
What’s perhaps most remarkable is that such a grandiose and emotionally enveloping project all came together in just a couple of weeks, indicating what a creative roll the band were on at the time.
At times dark and brooding and others simply shimmering with ethereal beauty, it shows another side altogether to Sigur Ros comfortably stands shoulder to shoulder with the classics of the band’s turn-of-the-century output, Agaetis byrjun and ( ).