Weird Christmas

Four-panel CD digipak with full-color illustrated artwork. Christmas albums usually promise comfort. Alex Wroten brought tools. On Weird Christmas, the composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist behind The Gatekeepers takes 13 familiar carols apart and rebuilds them through fresh arrangements, altered forms and reharmonizations that roam across genres. "Angels We Have Heard While High," "God Rest Ye Canceled Gentlemen," "O Holy Nightclub" and "The Twelve Days of Pathological Overgifting" keep recognizable melodies in view while refusing the same old seasonal route. Wroten arranges and performs the full programme, joined by a cast of vocalists and violinist Jason Walter. The result is funny without becoming novelty music and musically restless without losing the songs underneath. A Christmas album for music Scrooges-and for anyone who has heard "Jingle Bells" quite enough in it's natural habitat.