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The Pearlfishers - Snowboardin'

from Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas Volume I by Various Artists

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about

When curating V4Velindre, I couldn't have imagined that a number of my all-time favourite artists would end up contributing to the album. I still haven't quite got over the shock of having The Wedding Present, Nightingales, Tot Taylor and BOB featuring on an album that I had actually compiled. As soon as I had conceived of the idea for Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, The Pearlfishers became my number one target.

Back in 2014, I blogged a feature on my top 5 Christmas albums. This is what I had to say about The Pearlfishers' A Sunflower at Christmas: 'The Pearlfishers have been making rather wonderful Bacharach/Beach Boys-influenced pop music for over 20 years without anyone paying too much attention to their worthwhile efforts. Their somewhat unheralded mini album from 2004 should put you in a feel-good mood for the festive period ahead.

Lead-singer David Scott penned a half dozen of the seven songs on the album and he generally makes a good fist of capturing the spirit of Christmas, albeit filtered through a modern take on the festive season. The opening track, “Snowboardin”, suggests taking up this winter pastime as a whimsical cure for the stresses and strains of Christmas shopping, while “Winter Roads” and “Blue December” are both well-crafted love songs, reminiscent of mid-period Prefab Sprout, which benefit from a Christmas setting.

Perhaps the best track on the album, though, is “The Snow Lamb”. Scott is aiming a lot higher here, endeavouring to write a Christmas classic, no less. It’s a beautiful song, with more than a touch of poetry about its enchanting lyric –

“A sailing boat of leaves and hay/ A silver coat of moonlight rays/
A jewelled string from drops of dew/ A star to light the path for you”

The album may be a tad lightweight for some, but the Glaswegians have turned in a brisk and peppy collection that’s guaranteed to put a spring in your step as you trudge through the snow to do your last-minute Christmas shopping.

credits

from Have Yourself A Merry Indie Christmas Volume I, track released November 15, 2004

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