1. Christmas Child
2. Red Punch / Green Punch
3. Ice And Snow
4. Sutton's Reel
5. Ode To The Snow
6. Drifting
7. Christmas At Sea
8. Christmas Child (Instrumental)
9. Toast To The New Year
ARTIST SITE
PURCHASE FROM CARBON LEAF
AMAZON MP3
Carbon Leaf is a five-piece Alt Rock band from Virginia who frequently feature Celtic and Bluegrass influences in their music. While more recent releases have seen the group move in a more mainstream Rock direction, "Christmas Child" is a clear return to their roots.
While making this record, Carbon Leaf pointedly described it as a "winter-slash-Christmas" album, and it is exactly that--a celebration of the entire month of December, if not the entire season of winter. As such, you could listen to this right now without feeling that you're pushing the season or in February without feeling as though you've hung on too long. Given the quality of the music, here, I suspect many will be listening to it still in the midst of summer.
Musically, this will readily appeal to fans of Alt Rock and Folk Rock, and should appeal to straight up Folk and Rock listeners as well. If you like bands like the Waterboys or Mumford & Sons, this would be right in your wheelhouse. Carbon Leaf's lyrics aren't quite as poetic as those groups, but they're no less profound. The songs are wonderfully written and flawlessly performed.
"Christmas Child" is, to my mind, a brilliant concept piece. They stack up the songs of the season as both allegories to the seasons of life and as allegories for the stages of a relationship, beginning with the beautifully written title track in which a young boy (or young man) simply can't contain his excitement for the coming holiday. "And I will lie-la-lie awake" he sings, "until I fade away". The sentiment, with which most anyone could identify, is conveyed expertly through both the music and lyrics. I, as a listener, felt immediately transported to that emotion. It was the coming of Christmas and it was love at first sight, all rolled into one. "Red Punch/Green Punch" expresses the high spirits of a slightly older child or man in that phase of life where you know there is a world to be conquered and you are certain that it shall be conquered.
On to the courtship. "Ice and Snow" is a beautiful love song, performed as a waltz and "Sutton's Reel" is exactly that. The courtship is all about dancing.
My favorite track on the album, "Ode To The Snow", is next up. This Alt Rock track demonstrates an age of somewhat more experience--introspective and understanding--but with none of life's passions in any way diminished. "In the silence is where you find the song." Indeed. This should be a staple of FM Rock stations this winter and straight through spring.
The brief instrumental "Drifting" is quite effecting, all the more so for being musically apart from the rest of the album. It's more of an electronic number, but it hits all the right notes to conjure the images of the season, snow and pretty lights (and pretty girls, as well). It's over very quickly and one is left wishing it had lasted at least a little bit longer. Like Christmas itself. "Christmas At Sea" shows our protagonist at a much more weathered stage of life, a little more wise, quite a bit less certain, sending out a "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-SOS". Next up is an instrumental reprise of the title track. An attempt to relive or remember the joy and certainty of youth? It is a tribute to Carbon Leaf that the song now sounds entirely different from the opening track. Play them side by side and you wouldn't necessarily feel that. But, having taken this journey with them, experience colors everything and perspective changes.
The album closes with a rock number, no less thoughtful for that. I think these are some of the best lyrics on the album, biting in their sarcasm at times and, at times, defiantly hopeful. "Still the darkest of seasons shimmers silver and gold. So let's dress up like penguins. We'll huddle en masse. We will ring in the New Year, throw a curse to the past." Amazing stuff.
"Christmas Child" isn't so much a Christmas record as it is a concept album whose stories use Christmas as a point of perspective. And that just makes it all the more brilliant. Like much of what Carbon Leaf does, "Christmas Child" works on multiple levels. It's a love story, a coming of age set, a tribute to the season (both the bright and the bleak), and/or it's just a damn good rock record.
The download version of "Christmas Child" hits digital retailers on November 16, while hard copies can be ordered from the band and will ship near the end of the month. But you can also have the best of both worlds by pre-ordering the CD from Carbon Leaf and getting your digital copy immediately.
2. Red Punch / Green Punch
3. Ice And Snow
4. Sutton's Reel
5. Ode To The Snow
6. Drifting
7. Christmas At Sea
8. Christmas Child (Instrumental)
9. Toast To The New Year
ARTIST SITE
PURCHASE FROM CARBON LEAF
AMAZON MP3
Carbon Leaf is a five-piece Alt Rock band from Virginia who frequently feature Celtic and Bluegrass influences in their music. While more recent releases have seen the group move in a more mainstream Rock direction, "Christmas Child" is a clear return to their roots.
While making this record, Carbon Leaf pointedly described it as a "winter-slash-Christmas" album, and it is exactly that--a celebration of the entire month of December, if not the entire season of winter. As such, you could listen to this right now without feeling that you're pushing the season or in February without feeling as though you've hung on too long. Given the quality of the music, here, I suspect many will be listening to it still in the midst of summer.
Musically, this will readily appeal to fans of Alt Rock and Folk Rock, and should appeal to straight up Folk and Rock listeners as well. If you like bands like the Waterboys or Mumford & Sons, this would be right in your wheelhouse. Carbon Leaf's lyrics aren't quite as poetic as those groups, but they're no less profound. The songs are wonderfully written and flawlessly performed.
"Christmas Child" is, to my mind, a brilliant concept piece. They stack up the songs of the season as both allegories to the seasons of life and as allegories for the stages of a relationship, beginning with the beautifully written title track in which a young boy (or young man) simply can't contain his excitement for the coming holiday. "And I will lie-la-lie awake" he sings, "until I fade away". The sentiment, with which most anyone could identify, is conveyed expertly through both the music and lyrics. I, as a listener, felt immediately transported to that emotion. It was the coming of Christmas and it was love at first sight, all rolled into one. "Red Punch/Green Punch" expresses the high spirits of a slightly older child or man in that phase of life where you know there is a world to be conquered and you are certain that it shall be conquered.
On to the courtship. "Ice and Snow" is a beautiful love song, performed as a waltz and "Sutton's Reel" is exactly that. The courtship is all about dancing.
My favorite track on the album, "Ode To The Snow", is next up. This Alt Rock track demonstrates an age of somewhat more experience--introspective and understanding--but with none of life's passions in any way diminished. "In the silence is where you find the song." Indeed. This should be a staple of FM Rock stations this winter and straight through spring.
The brief instrumental "Drifting" is quite effecting, all the more so for being musically apart from the rest of the album. It's more of an electronic number, but it hits all the right notes to conjure the images of the season, snow and pretty lights (and pretty girls, as well). It's over very quickly and one is left wishing it had lasted at least a little bit longer. Like Christmas itself. "Christmas At Sea" shows our protagonist at a much more weathered stage of life, a little more wise, quite a bit less certain, sending out a "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-SOS". Next up is an instrumental reprise of the title track. An attempt to relive or remember the joy and certainty of youth? It is a tribute to Carbon Leaf that the song now sounds entirely different from the opening track. Play them side by side and you wouldn't necessarily feel that. But, having taken this journey with them, experience colors everything and perspective changes.
The album closes with a rock number, no less thoughtful for that. I think these are some of the best lyrics on the album, biting in their sarcasm at times and, at times, defiantly hopeful. "Still the darkest of seasons shimmers silver and gold. So let's dress up like penguins. We'll huddle en masse. We will ring in the New Year, throw a curse to the past." Amazing stuff.
"Christmas Child" isn't so much a Christmas record as it is a concept album whose stories use Christmas as a point of perspective. And that just makes it all the more brilliant. Like much of what Carbon Leaf does, "Christmas Child" works on multiple levels. It's a love story, a coming of age set, a tribute to the season (both the bright and the bleak), and/or it's just a damn good rock record.
The download version of "Christmas Child" hits digital retailers on November 16, while hard copies can be ordered from the band and will ship near the end of the month. But you can also have the best of both worlds by pre-ordering the CD from Carbon Leaf and getting your digital copy immediately.
RSS Feed
