~Winter Wassailing~#2: 'Welcome Christmas' by Love Spirals Downwards

A Selection Of Seasonal Songs In The ~Streetlamp~ Stylee!

It's a trip to the Dark Side for our Christmas selection today with the enchanting sound of 'Welcome Christmas' by Love Spirals Downwards.
Actually, that's probably a little unfair, for you see Love Spirals Downwards often get categorised rather lazily as a Goth band when in fact they are more of an Ethereal Dreampop band. Let's face it, a quick listen to their music will tell you that they sound absolutely nothing like, say, Bauhaus or Alien Sex Fiend but that they do have the mercurial shimmer of our beloved Cocteau Twins. In fact if I have any criticism of Love Spirals Downwards, it's that maybe they follow the Cocteau's blueprint a little to closely....from the echoey drum machine, to the heavily reverbed and distorted guitars to the octave leaping vocals....BUT, I would much rather live in a world where bands sound like the Cocteau Twins than live in one where they all sound like Oasis, Kings Of Leon or Kasabian!!

And so to their fine festive offering, and it's a cover of 'Welcome Christmas' from the soundtrack to The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. When the song begins it immediately sounds as though vocalist Suzanne Perry is doing the whole Elizabeth Fraser bit and just singing in nonsense tongues, but no....she is actually singing exactly what writer Theodor Seuss Geisel(aka Dr Suess of course!) wrote verbatim; "Fah who foraze// Dah who doraze// Welcome Christmas, come this way!" Built around a descending guitar structure from partner Ryan Lum, Suzanne delivers a breathtaking vocal jumping from lower case honey-glazed Indie murmur to full-on choral afflatus, like a palatable Diamanda Galas. I feel convinced that after you've heard her singing on this track you'll want track down more of their own compositions and pretty soon Suzanne will be one of your most cherished voalists. Mark my words!


This is a wonderful Christmas song that sounds both heartwarmingly spiritual and Winterily Paganistic at the same time. A song from a children's story delivered in such an adult fashion that it taps into the inner child in all of us, and also manages to sound as though it could have been written and recorded in any time period; from the modern era all the way back to almost medieval times.

Christmas....Welcome indeed!!

~Gordon~