I'm still working out how I'm going to post this month...last month, I just went off the top of my head with thankfulness ideas. This time, I did jot down a list of my favorite Christmas songs, just so I don't miss any, but I want to be a least a little spontaneous...
so rather than just pick a song today, I'm going with my new favorite album...which (this week) is Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong" (from 2006...yes, I just discovered it last week. I'm just a tad behind the times!) And can you guess how I discovered this gem of an album? I was listening to a Christmas station on Pandora and up popped "River" by Sarah McLachlan. It was love at first listen! When my hubby introduced me to Spotify last week, I simply double-clicked on the "Wintersong" album...I've listened to it at least 20 times, start to finish, since then!!
First of all, Sarah's voice is lovely and mellow. I've always liked her music. Second, her arrangements of these songs are amazing...not copycats of the originals by any stretch. The harmonies are soothing, the acoustic guitar on "What Child is This" is very gentle, giving it a folksong feel. I absolutely love her version of Joni Mitchell's "River" - not a Christmas carol at all, but a melancholy winter song..."I wish I had a river I could skate away on..."
"Wintersong" and her cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night" are both bittersweet love songs of longing.
This album is certainly not a yippee skippee "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" kind of album. But I LOVE it when I'm in fleecy jammies with the fireplace roaring and candles burning...can't wait for a big snowstorm!
sounds lovely. i used to listen to Sarah's "Surfacing" CD over and over. her voice is very melancholy in that album. it wasn't a good point in my life, and whenever i hear her voice now, it brings back sad memories.
ReplyDeleteoh the sarah maclachlan christmas music is AMAZING. beautiful.
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