Aimee Mann - One More Drifter in the Snow
Aimee Mann’s plaintive voice seems better suited to songs of sorrow and loss than Yuletide spirit. But she manages to deliver Christmas classics that are quietly festive – though still poignant – on “One More Drifter in the Snow.”
The collection of standards and lesser-known holiday songs borrows from popular Christmas albums of decades past, with shimmering keyboards and orchestral arrangements that recall the work of Johnny Mathis and other crooners.
But Mann’s renditions are distinctly eerie and off-kilter. Her singing, often accompanied by tremolo guitars, is ghostly on tracks such as “Christmastime,” a lament by her husband, Michael Penn. And she taunts listeners in a jazzy version of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” narrated by fellow singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips.
Among the album’s chestnuts are “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and a version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that features quirky horn and guitar parts worthy of Tom Waits.
The CD closes with its only original, “Calling on Mary,” a typically pain-tinged song Mann co-wrote with her producer, Paul Bryan.
If most Christmas albums seem relentlessly upbeat, Mann’s latest release offers an alternative. Though it may not inspire celebration, “One More Drifter in the Snow” shows there’s more to Christmas than holiday cheer. – Daniel Lovering
