Monday, 6 December 2021

New Found Glory - December's Here


20 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy December's Here here (external link)

It is always a treat to have a new Christmas album that provides a different take on the season - so much better when it is New Found Glory celebrating the holidays their way with 11 original compositions. December's Here sees the group deliver their much-loved sound with a little festive sparkle whilst crafting lyrics that cover every facet of the holidays and wrap them up in melodies that will stay in your head long into the new year. A Christmas album is for life, not just the year it is released - this one is bound to become an annual favourite; the perfect soundtrack to feeling merry and bright. Play loud, tell everyone you've ever met about it and bask in its radiant glow...
  • December's Here ~ it really is the most wonderful time of the year and NFG are here to remind you why; watching Home Alone about a thousand times (though I'd argue the sequel is superior) and eating everything in sight are just a few of the lines you'll instantly relate to (and sing along to). Crunchy-as-trodden-snow guitars, jingling bells and playful piano riffs make this your new favourite future oldie.
  • Somber Christmas - it can be a blue Christmas sometimes; broken hearts, life punching you in the gut, Covid-19, etc. The lads continue their uptempo, exhilarating romps by revealing that the magic of Christmas renews itself every single year if you just embrace it with a new energy. Throw in a choir in the middle 8 and it is the type of song that used to top the British charts every December. This deserves no less (new found) glory.
  • Holiday Records ~ the New Found Glory festive Spotify playlist sounds like an invigorating party just waiting to happen. They are particularly gifted at delivering evocative lyrics so you don't just visualise the feel good times they describe but you feel the excitement of it alongside them. They know what makes a great pop-punk record as well as a brilliant seasonal song. Combining both on this makes it a giddy bauble of a tune.
  • Nothing for Christmas ~ according to the best holiday movie ever made (Love, Actually), Christmas Eve is the best time of year to fall in love (however unfeasible love may be). The gents agree because this is a mid-tempo arm swayer that heightens all the emotions of those tingling first rush of love moments that you hope will last all year round. The power of that convivial chorus will certainly buoy this romance to snuggly new heights.
  • Christmas Card ~ now that New Found Glory are all loved up, they have the unenviable task of finding their paramour the type of card that they deserve. There are particularly witty lyrics that give a nod to the decidedly non-Yuletide lockdown of last year ("I drove across State lines/I think it could be a crime") on this two minute, icy blast of a refreshing Crimbo carol. Probably should have just gone to Thortful or something though...
  • Santa Forgive Me ~ why is it we only remember the naughty list in December? The guys put together this plaintive plea for jolly Ol' Saint Nick to understand the reasons behind their decisions and wrap it up in a new take on the sixties classic boy band doo-wop sound. That alone is worth the price admission, but the lyrics are a full story - basically a 2022 animated Netflix special just waiting to happen.
  • Our First Christmas ~ I guess they found the perfect Christmas card because the various romantic couplings of the band are all celebrating their inaugural December 25th on a song that positively fizzes with feel good vibes and showers happy glitter over the listener. You can't help but smile at such merriment. Just a note; those textured vocals throughout and infusion of chant moments make this an album you truly feel part of.
  • Snow ~ is this the album's first real ballad? It is a charmer - music that conjures up images of wintry landscapes and honest lyrics that show how Christmas can heal all the woes that came before (even if just for the month of December). I love a song about reminiscing and embracing all the season has to offer - there is a melancholy to this that makes it quite poignant and lovely. 
  • Don't Fight It's Christmas ~ who wants to bicker and feud when they could be enjoying twinkling lights and deliciously gross Egg Nog Latte from Starbucks (other coffee emporiums are available)? This is an honest recognition that tempers can be frayed - whether from the pressure to just have a great time or the craziness that comes along; this is an inviting plea to just let it go. Just without the big Disney ballad.
  • It Never Snows in Florida (Holiday Version) ~ a new take on an old New Found Glory song that sounds just as fresh as it did 22 years ago. Strumming guitar heightens the yearning in the lyrics as the guys bemoan their lovelorn situation with the very real titular statement as a metaphor for their loneliness. Mud were right - it will be lonely this Christmas, lonely and blue. Music like this is just the cathartic release you need. 
  • For Christmas Sake ~ the album comes to an all too soon close with this rather enchanting, wistful ballad where flashbacks to Christmas of days gone by are so achingly familiar that the music wraps around you like a hug from a friend. It is one final, anthem-style plea to ditch the cynicism that surrounds the holidays and re-live it through your child-like eyes. Sage advice that you should heed every time December's here.
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