Razzia Records
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Jens Lekman and Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide) set off on their Correspondence project at the beginning of this year, writing each other letters though song in an alternating fashion. I don’t recall specifically hoping that there would be a Christmas song, but that hope is my default position. My default hope has been fulfilled, and I am ecstatic that one has emerged in this, the final month of the project. It is Annika Norlin’s turn for a song, and boy does she deliver a finale. “CORRESPONDENCE: Silent Night” has Annika musing on the the two composers of the original “Silent Night,” and how they must have felt to create it, then for those around them to experience it for that first time. What a brilliant approach for a song – I’m already in and I might not have heard a note yet. Annika’s simple guitar melody propels her delicate voice through a series of vignettes, from the birth of the song, to its first performance, finally culminating in the famous Christmas truce of 1914. And while there are powerful moments such as that truce, there are also some moments of levity, as she wonders if that first crowd might have thought: “Well I like the older stuff better / They should do more upbeat tunes.” So terribly clever and moving in both approach and execution, this song has it all. Thanks to Jeremi for the tip!
Bottom Line: What a stunner.
Christmas Underground 
Producerad av Henrik Oja Mixad av Michael Ilbert Mastrad av Henke Jonsson Jakob Algesten, klaviatur Daniel Berglund, trummor och slagverk Mats Hammarstrom, bas Frida Johansson, fiol och sang Annika Norlin, sang Lovisa Nystrom, sang Henrik Oja, gitarrer och klaviatur Artwork: Par Olofsson Bild: Elin Berge