Thursday, 26 November 2015

VoicePlay - The First Noel


29 DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy The First Noel here (VoicePlay's website)
Buy VoicePlay's Christmas album (Peppermint Winter) here (Amazon UK)
Read my review of Peppermint Winter here
Read my review of VoicePlay's new non-holiday single here (my fizzypop)

I can imagine Thanksgiving with the VoicePlay guys is an absolute hoot. They'll all be singing their thanks at the dinner table - after Geoff's rushed out to get the cranberry sauce that he forgot. Games will be played, Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow will be watched (and brutally critiqued) and then everyone will rush out for the Black Friday sales and the countdown to Christmas will begin. Sadly, my invite must have gotten lost in the post this year, but at least Layne, Tony, Earl, Eli and Geoff are sharing a new festive song this year - and The First Noel is as charming as anything on their Peppermint Winter album. It starts with an angelic and sincere a cappella opening that sees Eli take lead vocal with the rest of the chaps smoothly aligning their harmonies like the most celestial of choirs. They could honestly sing like that for the whole song and I would be utterly entranced. This is VoicePlay, however, and they live to give their interpretation of classic carols their own VP flavouring - and it works wonderfully on The First Noel. Geoff's resonant bass sounds and Layne's delicious beat-box acrobatics actually highlight the awe-inspiring nature of the story that is being sung, setting a giddy pace for the rest of the fellas to sing along to. There are moments (particularly the intake of breath sound from Layne at 55s) where the "instrumental" seems to replicate the elements from that cold winter's night and it's an absolute gift to listen to; similarly the insertions of "Hallelujah" ensure that this re-imagining of such an indelible seasonal standard is both joyful AND triumphant. It's an incredible accomplishment that they have managed to keep the reverent subject matter, tease out the glory of the story and make it sound like a contemporary pop song that should be played incessantly on the radio until St Stephen's Day. Glorious. Two final points - firstly, I love that the video lists set designers because no part of these performances are not planned with meticulous detail. And secondly, marriage suits Layne's hair :)

**Ghosts of Christmas past**
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