Seasonal music is generally a love-hate affair. Nothing brings out the schmaltz, the kitsch, and the garish quite like Christmas. Your tolerance for these factors will determine just how much of the stuff you’ll be able to stand. Unfortunately it’s also unavoidable. If you hate Christmas music, then having it blasted at you over mall sound-systems for two months straight will only confirm your antipathy.
In fact, your feelings about Christmas music are pretty closely related to how you feel about the holiday itself. The crass commercialism and cheap sentimentality is present in just about every aspect of the season: the movies, the advertising, the decorations, the presents—why not the music as well?
All these things are the antithesis of what “independent” music is supposed to be about: DIY amateurism, fearless exploration, niche tastes over mainstream accessibility. Admittedly, indie rock often fails to live up to these standards, but it usually manages to keep up appearances.
So the recent indie love for Christmas singles, Eps, and compilations is a little bit baffling. They do know that it’s a bit gimmicky, right? Well, tongue firmly planted in cheek or not, some left-of-center artists have produced Christmas songs that are up there with their best work.
Danish noise-pop band The Raveonettes’ original track “The Christmas Song” is unconventional to say the least. While Christmas standards have usually gone for jaunty and jolly (or morose and maudlin at the other extreme), the Raveonettes pitch for their usual back-alley sexiness and succeed. It’s disorienting to hear Sune Rose Wagner sneer “Santa’s coming to town” as if it’s the filthiest pick-up line he knows. You almost believe it is.
Classic rockers My Morning Jacket released an entire EP of Christmas songs a few years back, based around their song “Xmas Curtain.” It’s a laid-back country tune, which reminds the listener of the best Christmas weepers of past ages. The lyrics are cryptic to say the least, with their tales of lawbreakers and girls living inside wombs, but Jim James’ unique, reverby vocals lend them a gravity that is rare in the disposable world of Christmas music.
If there’s any artist who loves Christmas, it’s Sufjan Stevens. The man has recently compiled his five Christmas mini-albums into a stylish box set for us all to enjoy. Stevens’ straight-faced loopiness makes him the ideal Christmas songwriter and interpreter. In his alternative indie universe, irony is dead and enthusiasm is not a dirty word. In fact, the track listings for each CD never contain fewer than two exclamation marks (!) “Come On! Let’s Boogey To The Elf Dance!” is one of the best of these excitable tracks and one which introduces the world to a new Christmas instrument. “Santa Claus is coming / Hear the banjos strumming.” Let’s boogey indeed.