Saturday, 7 November 2020

Molly Rainford - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)


48 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Stream the Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) EP here (Spotify)

I love a new take on an old classic, particularly when you can tell the artist and producer have really studied and immersed themselves in the lyrics of the original to transform it into something both personal to them and new to the listener. It was a bold move for Molly Rainford to take on the Darlene Love evergreen, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) but she has done so with style and elegance. Her gorgeous, expressive vocal ushers in the song with an aching plea, sang a cappella with lush, textured vocals lifting her festive wish to the angels above. What happens next is an incredible recipe of instrumental precision - piano, guitar and bells are added, conjuring up images of dark nights lit by fairy lights. It is a world where you can be surrounded by throngs of people yet still feel all alone on Christmas. A mid-tempo percussion with sprinkles of jingles is folded in, like the most delicious chocolate drops into your home baked panettone. Molly is soulful and searching in every moment of the song, a symbiotic partner with the sumptuous production that makes the song as vivid as any Hallmark Holiday Movie. Exquisitely done - faithful to Ms Love yet with her own style intricately infused.

Ms Rainford has also taken on the carol, Who Would Imagine A King - mostly known for being performed by Whitney Houston. Clearly the talented singer doesn't shy away from tackling the divas and she is as supremely successful here as she is on the Darlene Love track. Where layered production cascaded around that song, here she is gifted with a piano duet where it is played so beautifully that it seems to add to the majesty of her own vocal. Strings sweep in to gently yet effectively accentuate the reverent awe of the lyrics being sung with such innocent wonder. When needed, the vocal and instrumental swell together but have as much impact when a quieter, more reflective tone is required. The world melts away and the song helps soothe what ails you - and at the moment, that is the greatest Christmas gift we could wish for. 

Merry Xmas (War is Over), the John Lennon evergreen, sees Molly deconstruct the song and reimagine it in her own style. She sings those achingly hopeful words with such a tangible sense of optimism that you can almost reach out and touch it. Moments such as when she sings "a very merry Christmas" see her voice fly into the higher register, drenched in the fragility of the wish yet the determination to sing the melodic message every year until this crazy world of ours takes note. Jingling bells and a choir of angels sing her song as the music comes to its rousing finale. The EP closes with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. The Wizzard song is slowed down, enabling Molly to savour every word and let it linger in the wintry air. Who knew the pomp and circumstance of the original would unveil a gorgeous, radiant ballad that encapsulates the fervent dreams of a nation longing for a brighter tomorrow. Those harmonies send the song past seventh heaven and all the way to cloud nine. It is an epic finale and leaves you glowing and warm as the log burner fire. Can't wait to hear more from Molly in 2021...

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