Oh, Starling - Noel EP

It was just last week that I told you christmas carols are one of the most painful forms of music, and a few weeks before I presented you with the anti-holiday cheer mixtape.  I'm already tiring of the indie christmas carols I've posted, there are only so many times I can listen to the multiple versions of "Fairytale of New York" before the novelty of singing "you're a bum / you're a punk / you're an old slut on junk" in a...err.."traditional" christmas song wears off. But then I got this in my inbox, and I might have changed my mind a little bit. Oh Starling, is musicians and husband/wife duo Dan Craig (not James Bond) and Jessica Sonner from Denver.

With a distinct lack of jingling bells in their music, the Noel EP features original arrangements of holiday classics with a sound that might even garner a few listens from staunch anti-christmas song people. There is quite a bit of talent and effort behind these songs and is very clearly not the usual lame attempt at covering christmas carols, they are thoughtful compositions backed by their mellifluous voices. It might even take you a while to figure out which songs they are working with because they do such a good job at making them drastically different from the traditional songs we all love to hate. The EP consist of the following songs and you can get "Hark" for free and instantly (just requires an email).
                                        

1.  Come (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)

2.  Noel (The First Noel)

3.  Bethlehem (Oh Little Town of Bethlehem)

4.  Emmanuel (Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel)

5.  Hark (Hark the Harald Angels Sing)

Be sure to check it out. I especially like "Come" and "Emmanuel". When soundcloud is working again I'll give you some samples.