Altsounds - Frightened Rabbit - It's Christmas So We'll Stop (7" single)

The best Christmas songs are often those with a dark, bleak undercurrent that generally gets masked by the tug-at-the-heartstrings of sleigh bells, dry stuffed turkey and a drunken aunt dancing to Agadoo of the family Christmas... this is absolutely no exception and Frightened Rabbit seem to bask in the glory of increasing the swelling of our hearts whilst simultaneously stabbing at them with some form of vitriolic word-smithery of the finest order.

For full-on maniacal fans of Frightened Rabbit (and I know a few) this is probably already apart of their collection due it's release in another guise last Christmas - damn it if Band Aid can release the same song at Christmas three times then who can't?!?! - but here we get a reworked version that has layers of grandiose applied by David Karsten Daniels in the shape of angelic choir work, floating flutes, brass section, twinkling piano, and the sort of sweeping, swooning string section cut from the finest movie score.

The crux of 'It's Christmas So We'll Stop' is to sink the track in the realistic situation that many of us find ourselves at this time of year as Scott Hutchison puts it himself "'It's Christmas...' is about people deciding to be pleasant to one another for about one day, regardless of whether or not they actually get along the rest of the year." which is none more evident than in the final refraining lyric that is delivered in quite an aching way 'the next day life went back to it's bad self' - yes he's a cheery sole, but if a lot of us are honest isn't that really the way we feel at Christmas it's great to get all the little presents but you really just want it to be over and to move on back to planet reality.

Frightened Rabbit continue to expand on their increasing popularity with the people of this world and rightfully so as their work up until now has been nothing short of exemplary and 'It's Christmas...' only highlights further the anguished-joy that they create. Take a bite from that cold turkey sandwhich and put this record on; sod Noddy Holder, you'll be glad it's all over - Merry bloody Christmas everybody!

http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit