Dylan Mondegreen “The Ghost of Christmas Past” (2016)

Dylan Mondegreen - Ghost of Christmas Past

Shelflife Records
Buy: Bandcamp | 7Digital | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

If you know me at all, or read this blog, you know I have a particular affinity for Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, etc. To top it off, I also have a particular love for indiepop, as well as the Shelflife label. Thus, when I saw that Norwegian singer-songwriter Dylan Mondegreen had a Christmas-ish song, “The Ghost of Christmas Past,” on his new album, Every Little Step, I jumped in and gave it an immediate listen. While these are not going be big name checks that everyone will be familiar with (unless you read this blog), I found this particular track to share equal parts Pelle Carlberg and Jens Lekman. Dylan has a quality to his voice that matches quite well with Pelle, and the flute flourishes felt like the Bacharach-influenced tracks of Night Falls on Kortedala-era Jens Lekman. The songwriting is also very clever; It’s a song about visiting yourself as the ghost of Christmas past, and realizing that you’d do it over again. Certainly worth a listen!

Bottom Line: Solid indiepop that will please indiepop fans.

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Red Sleeping Beauty “Merry Christmas, Marie” (2014)

Red Sleeping Beauty

Shelflife Records
Buy: 7Digital MP3 | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Red Sleeping Beauty returned from a long hiatus earlier this year, which was wonderful news in my world. To top it all off, for their first new song in 17 years, they recorded a new Christmas song! “Merry Christmas, Marie” sounds like classic RSB. This is high-quality indie pop, and for those who love 1990s-2000s indie pop, a gift from above.

Bottom Line: Red Sleeping Beauty has returned, doing what they do best. 4.5/5

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