Over the Rhine
Blood Oranges in the Snow/Great Speckled Dog Records
Folk duo Over the Rhine likes to do things differently. Blood Oranges in the Snow—the third holiday-themed release of their career—isn’t your typical feel-good collection of familiar hymns or classic songs; it’s more of a treatise on how to weather difficult times during what is often viewed as the most wonderful time of the year. Kind of a guide to finding joy in the darkness. “If We Make it Through December” highlights the survival theme, and the piano ballad “Bethlehem” treats listeners to snippets of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” inserted into an eye-opening narrative about the struggles of Mary and Joseph as Jesus was about to be born. The folk track “Another Christmas” best encapsulates the tone and feel of the album with lines about sinning in every way imaginable, living with the consequences and hoping that Christ is really the answer while not being altogether sure about that.
One Friend
Two Years EP/Self-released
Any time you refer to your new EP as the “Daniel LaRusso kicking Johnny in the face with the crane kick at the end of The Karate Kid” moment of your career, you show that you are cool (and likely a Gen-Xer). Fortunately, Two Years is pretty cool too. “End Scene” is a noisy rock track that is a fun listen, while “Don’t Hold a Candle” sounds like a romantic, slowed down version of Third Eye Blind’s “Never Let You Go.” “Julia” features some groovy guitar licks seemingly culled from a spy flick, while the rocker “Ninety Days” evokes a ’50s-era sci-fi monster flick soundtrack. The album is raucous and raw with some timing issues and hit-or-miss vocals from singer Peter D’Alema, but in the end that’s all part of the charm.
Digital Daggers
Mixed Emotions/El Camino
This album is simply beguiling. If you dig getting caught in a web of epic ambient pop, then put Digital Daggers on your list immediately. Whether it’s the spine-tingling instrumental “Purgatory,” or the effortless delivery of Andrea Wasse’s seductive vocals, the skyscraping track “Angel” and the seductive trip-hop number “Nothing’s Broken” portray an otherworldly musical presence similar to a spirit guide.
Religious imagery is peppered throughout the record—particularly in references to halos and demons on “Heaven or Hell” —there is a tug-of-war aspect to this album, which aptly mirrors its title and gives the tracks an apocalyptic feel.