Monday, 23 November 2020

Kat Robichaud - A Darling Misfit Christmas


32 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy-stream A Darling Misfit Christmas here (external link)

I love that the most wonderful time of the year can lead me to discover artists that I have somehow missed out on. I mean, for someone who celebrates Christmas from 60 days before the big day (Santa's birthday), I'm a fairly jingle bells and cinnamon swirls and silent nights and fairy lights sort of person, but I appreciate how holiday music crosses genres and breaks down musical barriers. So that is how I have become all sorts of smitten with Kat Robichaud and her new EP, A Darling Misfit Christmas. If you imagine glam rock remixed by a broadway producer and infused with a healthy dollop of cabaret, you would be in the ball park of describing Kat's music but even that doesn't do it the justice it deserves. Neither will my words of review but hopefully it will encourage people who don't know Ms Robichaud's music to check out her dazzling sound and have a very darling misfit Christmas themselves...
  • Cheer Up, It's Christmas! ~ if I could play piano this well and sing with such personality, this is exactly the type of tune I'd be bashing out on the ol' joanna right now. It is an ebullient knees-up of a pop song (the type us Brits love to sing along to in the bars at this time of year) that grabs you by the shoulders and spins you round the dance floor with dizzying delight. Following on from the gentle piano-vocal duet of the introductory bars, the song launches into an effusive wall of sound with vivid lyrics and a chorus that will linger in your head until New Year and beyond. What my mum would call "a bobby dazzler of a tune". EPIC.
  • Quiet Christmas Night ~ an extended piano introduction crafts scenes of a stark wintry wonderland, demonstrating the expressive talent of when the world's greatest instrument is played with loving finesse. Kat sings an elegiac, reflective ballad of loss and longing which then transforms into a 60s style girl group chorus that The Chiffons would have loved to sing. The song crescendos as if powered by the cathartic vocal performance of Kat - she sings not because it makes it better but because it is just too painful to keep in. Add a sumptuous sax solo and I'm in sad girl Christmas heaven.
  • Merry Christmas, My Love ~ lush powerful piano chords and a dynamic percussion create a whirling snow storm of a musical score for Kat to weave her words around. Who hasn't sat nibbling on a Christmas cookie (or 12) pondering on how things might have been and wishing on a Christmas star that things could have been different. Fear not though, romantic troubadours - the true gift you can give at Christmas is the world's greatest emotion. And if you get a song as good as this for Christmas you should probably fall on your knees and thank the Christmas elves you have been so lucky. 
  • The Gremlins Song ~ who doesn't love a song about one of the season's finest movies?! This witty romp through the traits of the movie's hero/villain feels like it belongs on a yet-to-be-written Broadway musical interpretation of the famed film. With backing vocals from the little critters (but not Critters) themselves and playful piano that perfectly encapsulates the mischievous nature of those adorable/terrifying potential pets, this commands your attention and demands multiple listens so you can appreciate every nuanced moment. Just don't get wet or feed after midnight. 
  • Christmas Miracle (ft Brendan Getzell) ~ this isn't the Christmas song you thought you were going to get but quite frankly it might be the Christmas song we all end up singing along to after the atrocious 2020 we've all had. Brendan delivers a blistering vocal as he lists all the disasters that have befallen him through the year - a juxtaposition against the la-la-la nature of the instrumental. You haven't appreciated harmonies until you hear them coo "ass up in a tree". Quite honestly, the Christmas Miracle might be that Christmas Eve burglars *only* leave him bound & gagged when robbing his presents on the night before Christmas! 
  • The Star Wars Holiday Special (ft Brendan Getzell) ~ look, I've never ever seen anything Stars Wars related (don't @ me), but even I know how legendarily bad the 70s Stars Wars Holiday Special was. This is a whopping 7 minute ode to the atrocity of this contractually obligated special. "Watch the actors souls die as they smile through their tears" is just one choice lyric - and I guess I can be thankful that Kat and Brendan go into such hilarious detail that I will never have to watch the abomination. Though, true story, I kind of now really, really want to. Guess I'll just hit repeat on this f**king fabulous EP instead. 
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown23 November 2020 at 21:58

    What an amazing review, so well worded. I can't wait to see what you have to say about Kat's previous albums, which are true masterpieces... Need I say Kat is my favorite artist, head and shoulder?

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  2. Unknown24 November 2020 at 02:35

    She's great at what she does, its simple.

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