Sunday, November 10, 2019

An Ethereal Christmas

When it comes to movies, there's a term for when something follows a formula. Typecast. It happens a lot in music. A metal band sounds like metal regardless of the album, for instance.
Finding the band Leah, I've found something that's different every time. Almost like Dead Can Dance.
So, her first four albums, while a little different from each other, still had a similar Celtic atmosphere, which made it all pleasant. Her last album, The Quest, was unique compared to them. Still retaining a Celtic element, it had a different soundscape than her previous projects. Her latest, Ancient Winter, will repeat this idea. Have an element of the familiar while being entirely different, regardless. She does so in a wonderful, ethereal way. The idea of a Christmas album is nothing new in the music industry. So.e sound downright traditional with some influence of the genre a musician has been using. Others are Christmas in relation to the lyrics with some of the spirit influencing the music. In the case of Ancient Winter, it's a whole new ballgame. The whole album doesn't have a traditional snow-white feel to it. Rather, the music is predominantly Middle Eastern influenced,  as the album is borderline a retelling of the Christmas story. Or, the first track is. The instant the album opener started, I was blown away by the deep sound of strings, nothing slipshod about the production value. This can be said of each track. This track not only sets the tone of the album, it's memorable as its own deal.
By halfway through, I noticed a shift that surprised me. Starting on the song "Gaudete," noticed a dash of Latin used in the lyrics, not strictly with background singing. Gaudete, in fact, is only in Latin. According to what I've heard, this is an old traditional Christmas song in Europe. Hearing this version, it's very interesting. It's not slow like a traditional Christmas song, though it be energetic, it's not as energetic as K-Pop music. It's comfortably in the middle. After Gaudete, the album keeps each song distinct, memorable, yet thematically the same and all together beautiful. If I had to nitpick on anything, it's that I wish it were more than 8 tracks. It's not a Christmas album I've experienced before and it's left me wishing for more. I can't recommend this enough to anyone who loves beautiful music.