41 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Buy Merry & Bright here (Amazon UK)
The Ellas are a Nashville based big band trio whose effusive take on Christmas music is here to do exactly what their album title promises - make your season Merry & Bright. They've concocted 16 sparkling original compositions that take you on a sleigh ride of the wonderment, awe, reflection, excitement and nostalgia bought about by the most wonderful time of the year. This sleigh ride also takes you back to the winter wonderland of Yuletides past as their jazz infused pop brings to mind the halcyon days of harmonised girl groups such as The Andrews Sisters (if Ella Fitzgerald joined them on stage for a quintet performance with Rosemary Clooney)! Bette Midler would be pleased as punch with this cool yule - and if you've a modicum of passion for all things Noel, you'll fall as fast and hard in love with this selection as I have...
The album kicks off with Chrisamas - which sets the standard and template for everything that is to follow. Tightly textured vocals set to a vibrant, horn-infused orchestral score makes for an invigorating setting for the ladies to wish us all the very best for the season. It's joyful and triumphant, so beautifully performed that it can't help but bring an enormous smile to your face. The merriment continues with Naughty List - an ode to the temptations we all succumb to all the live long year (but that seem so much more obvious when we know that Santa is keeping track). It's a glorious mid-tempo groove set to an elegantly flowing piano and a shuffling bluesy percussion. The Ellas voices drip like mellifluous magic around the seductive melody and it's all as wonderfully satisfying as a hot mug of cocoa on a cold winter day. Just two tracks in and you already get a sense of their diversity as well as the passion for their craft. The tempo slows ever so slightly again during the fairytale charm of Christmas In New York. They are not just singing a song on this pretty gem - they are painting a picture so vivid that you feel like you can almost sing it. It sounds like it has traversed the passages of time, a lost classic from a Doris Day film never made except in the recesses of the writing of this song. Stunning strings and evocative lyrics, combined with those flawless voices, make this an aural hug you don't want to end. End it does though because there are more jewels to discover. Bakin' Cookies (the track used to promote the album) brings back a playful verve with sassy horns, cheeky piano melody and addictive "ooo ooo" ad libs from the ladies themselves. If this doesn't make you grab the one you love and shimmy around the kitchen then you may want to go the doctor because there is something wrong with your dancing feet :) It conjures up every memory from your youth of spending time in the kitchen with your parents, and that surely ain't a bad thing. Note - I love that there is a definite tip of the hat to the Rosemary Clooney song in "Come On-A My House" both in the melody and the lyrics. Somehow it gives the song an even more satisfying aftertaste :)
I Want It All This Year is a melodic wish list of presents that the trio desire to find under their tree. They certainly think that their fellas have deep pockets as private jets and one of everything in every colour seem to be underlined at least 3 times. It's like a new take on Santa Baby mixed with Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend. Still, it would be hard to resist thanks to that alluring piano cadence and strings that whirl and swirl like an icicle forming on the branch of a picturesque tree. Better extend the limit on the credit card... The album's title track is not only a love letter to the season but also to the musical genre that the group clearly revel in. They list all the magical things that make the holiday season so delicious with an evocative score and vocals so earnest & sincere that you are instantly subscribing to the scripture they preach. Love the lyric "there's something about how a stranger can strangely seem more like a neighbour" - after the events of the past 24 hours, we surely need a bit more love and kindness in our world. Music heals and this song will surely uplift and edify. Heart Is Home For Christmas proves that The Ellas are just as comfortable in a more acoustic, country-tinged setting - and how it works exquisitely well with those undeniably breathtaking visits. It's a lyrical sequel to the title track - how the links we have with loved ones are the real icing on the cake to all the other elements that brighten up the dark winter nights. It's a good time to point out that there are some shimmering, resonant solo vocals in this song that are just as effective and powerful as when the girls sing together. Oh and a glorious instrumental middle 8 is one of the most graceful things I've heard this year. Next up is Decemburr, a romantic ode to how the cold can bring two people closer together (both physically and emotionally). I may sound redundant here but it's another stirring instrumental arrangement that evokes memories of 50s Hollywood movies. Add in those poetic lyrics and it's yet another luminous bauble, radiating sheer delight.
There's a giddy glee baked right into the bond-esque Gonna Catch Santa. It's bold and dramatic (and a much more enticing proposition than the current Sam Smith Spectre theme). In fact, if you mixed Goldfinger with You're A Mean One Mr Grinch then you have the architecture of this song. The lasses infuse it with a sultry personality that accentuates and elevates the opulence of this grandiose track. You'll be finger clicking and giving it some deep shoulder action before they've even finished singing the first verse! Christmas Morning manages to encapsulate everything that is thrilling and exhilarating about December 25th (I don't think that, even at *cough* 40, I've ever woken up later than 5am on the big day). I like that there are little instrumental nuggets that allow the song to breathe (as if waiting for a few more presents to be opened). The "ho-ho-hope" moment is sheer genius. Oh and a key change had me deliriously happy. Dashing In The Snow is a brilliantly inventive play on words, referring to how sartorially blessed someone is during the winter months. It's a serene and languid compliment that makes me want to throw on a tux and dig out my white silk scarf and gloves for a glass of mulled wine at the office Christmas party. Gentle coos that blend seamlessly into the piano make it sound like angelic hosts approving of a match clearly made in heaven. Now who is this handsome chap and how do I get his number?! What Blue Christmas Means gives our trio a chance to reflect and ponder on the more melancholy nature of the season. If everything happy is amped up to the nth degree then surely the sorrows ache with an elegiac somberness. Their voices ache with a yearning and sense of sadness - the only comfort is that it is just as musically mesmerising as their more cheerful, optimistic songs. Absolutely stunning.
When you're feeling down with your Blue Christmas then the best thing to do is throw yourself into the season. That's just what happens with Calling For Snow - an eloquent plea for sprinkling of that magical white dust across our stark, barren world. The way the instruments weave in and around each other is as intricate and magnificent as each individual snowflake the ladies so melodically plead for. There's an alchemy to the creation of this song in the way it all coalesces as if the elements are swirling together to answer this ethereal wish. Intentional or not, it makes quite the impact. Kiss Another Year Goodbye takes you deep into the jazz clubs of yesteryear with their smoky vibes, mood lighting and embedded smell of whiskey and oak. You can almost envisage our now favourite trio (sorry Wilson Phillips!) on stage, decked out in glamorous bedazzled gowns, emoting through this heartfelt farewell to another 12 months of unforgettable experiences. There really aren't enough new year themed songs and this makes a fine addition to the canon. Candy Cane Lane starts to bring our adventure with The Ellas full circle - as glittering and sparkling as the opening number of Merry & Bright. Never has an address sounded more enticing - I know I am now scanning the "apartment for rent" column in their local paper (I will accept Gum Drop Street but it's not as good ;)). Happiness is woven into the fabric of the performance and the song is illuminated like the brightest star because of this. And then it all comes to a close with Season of Love. It's a fitting farewell to the album - and to the time of year that, if you weren't smitten with before, you now adore with a passion. All thanks to The Ellas. An absolute gift of an album that should be treasured for many Christmasses to come.
**Ghosts of Christmas Past**
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