A couple of weeks ago we put together a list of alternative Christmas songs. One track that slipped our mind was The Knife’s Christmas Reindeer, which certainly qualifies for the “alternative” category since it’s utterly devoid of any festive cheer whatsoever.
The masked Swedes specialise in a kind of inscrutable, minimalist electro – their 2002 single Heartbeats (later made famous by Jose Gonzalez) was uncharacteristically melodic and direct – so you’d imagine Christmas for them to be a time of icy froideur rather than, say, mince pie-fuelled jocularity.
And so it turns out. Sleigh bells notwithstanding, vocalist Karin Dreijer Andersson pictures the Yuletide scene as a frozen, cheerless wasteland, while her mirthless observations (“You move like shadows in the dark”) make the titular reindeer sound like sinister harbingers of doom rather than bringers of seasonal joy. Step Into Christmas it ain’t.
Recorded in 2000, Christmas Reindeer is being hosted by music blog 17 Seconds. Ho bloody ho.
12:15 PM | 12/12/2007
More Photos Of:
Latest News
-
Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 2010
The Mercury crown is in safe hands, The xx have it - the night in full.
-
Manic Street Preachers Gig announced
Welsh trio announce intimate gig...
-
Front Of The Q - this week's picks
We pick our top gig choices for the coming weeks...
-
Interview: The Whip - Metal Law
The group begin recording their new album...
-
Q The Music Club: Ellie Goulding
Enter the draw to win tickets to this intimate show now...
-
Leonard Cohen: Bird On A Wire documentary
The insightful 1972 Leonard Cohen tour doc is re-mastered and released, Steven Machat Q and A plus win one of 5 copies
Advertisement
User Comments
Post A Comment
Post A Comment