Do you like Christmas? (Never trust anyone who says no to this).
And do you like The Futureheads? (trust any naysayers even less).
If the answer to both of these is yes, then have I got the perfect record for you?
In the great tradition of Sinatra, Bing and Elvis, amongst hundreds of others (with wildly varying degrees of success, it has to be said), the Sunderland post-punk four-piece have made themselves a literal Christmas record, containing eight joyous covers of seasonal twinkly classics along with two originals (one new, one not so new) and it’s been quite the venture.
Recorded over nine months in their hometown, including sessions taking place in the deepest days of this year’s long hot summer, not the most conducive to capturing the spirit of the season, it’s turned out to be a personal project very close to their hearts, arranged, recorded and produced by the band themselves, who had the idea for the record as they have been touring in December over the last few years and just wanted to make those gigs have more of a festive feel to them.
It’s a set of songs that perfectly encapsulates the yin and yang that has always been the make-up of The Futureheads output, there’s the shouty multi-harmony laden bangers, but also there’s the other extreme, the softer angle, they are both beautifully seasonal cornerstones in their own right, it is the bundle of joy that you think it’s going to be, sounding exactly like you think it’s going to.
The 10-track album mainly falls into three categories, there’s the faster songs, where what they bring to these could have them to now be considered as definitive versions, ‘Carol Of The Bells‘ and ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’ have never sounded so alive, so urgent, (who knew the joy that you could feel screaming “Five Gold Rings!!” along with them with such verve?) and there’s a gloriously fun version of The Nightmare Before Xmas’ ‘What’s This?‘
There’s those songs that are over-familiar through constant playing at this time of year, but these tired tunes are given the Futureheads sprinkle that reinvigorates them into life, Jona Lewie‘s anti-war anthem ‘Stop The Cavalry’ and Macca’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ (with the band choir replacing that terrible squelchy synth noise on the original) being prime examples and finally those that are given a lighter touch, glorious, heartfelt, stunning interpretations of ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, The Pretenders’ “is it really a Christmas song?” 2000 Miles and ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas‘, alongside a new composition, ‘The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years’, which could have come straight from their 2012 acapella record Rant.
All of which are topped off by a raucous reworking of their 2015 original, ‘Christmas Was Better In The 80’s’, and it’s 28 minutes (the same length as a festive episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys but a thousand times more satisfying) well spent, a record that you can’t wait to put back on again, which is not always how it turns out with a lot of Christmas albums that there have been from contemporary artists, the large majority of them are a one-trick pony novelty of sorts that don’t stand up to repeated listens. Absolutely not the case here, it’s a sparkly masterpiece that will serve as a timeless new tradition, year after year. without feeling like it is aging a day.
If you’re just a fan of Christmas songs, you’ll love it, and if you’re also a FH lover, you’ll adore it all the more.
My seasonal wish to you is to treat yourself to a copy, well it is Christmas after all.
