Merry Christmas - fuzzy folk infused math rock from Japan - a podcast by Richard and Tobin: Self confessed music addicts
from 2021-06-26T22:00
Merry Christmas, fuzzy avant-garde folk infused strangeness from Japan are this week's focus and bring us delight in bucket loads. Merry Christmas bring a much needed antidote to the norm with their fun and enthusiastic songbook. Eschewing the music industry norms, their innocent but ultimately thought provoking music is a welcome break from tradition. Their debut LP The Night The Night Fell opens with glockenspiel and signature ballistic rhythm bursts before opening up to wonderfully simple melody. It's a sound both bold and gently simple and gives way to arresting synth bursts that will wake up the most disinterested of ears.
The loose concept album follows a journey quite like no other. Despite the at times gawkish tunes Merry Christmas are not without music sentimentality. The tender First Lull offers a glimpse into the more introspective side of the band. With its vocal harmonies mirroring each other perfectly and playing out of the acoustic guitar and ever present glockenspiel, this track feels like a bridge in the album. It gives way to the more upbeat Magnets before the madness of Meredith Bites The Earth unfolds and arrests listeners.
Merry Christmas offer a rare look at what is possible with a little vision and a desire to escape the all too constrictive bonds of chasing popularity and the comfort of conformity. This confident album is a treat despite its lo-fi credentials and should be in every audiophile's collection. Here at Record Box HQ we will certainly be watching the band's evolution with much interest.
Further episodes of From the Bottom of the Record Box
Further podcasts by Richard and Tobin: Self confessed music addicts