Erasure released holiday LP, "Snow Globe" (stream it + videos)

December 13, 2013

by Bill Pearis

Christmas albums are tricky business. I think most people want new holiday music, but problem is most of it is unmemorable at best. Have we had a new holiday classic since Mariah Carey’s “All I Want is Christmas Is You”? Erasure have circumvented the issue on their album album, Snow Globe, by making an Erasure album that also just happens to be holiday themed. Vince Clark and Andy Bell don’t mess with their nearly 30-year synthpop formula with a lot of sleigh bells or children singing. Is it a new classic? The Quietus argues, at the least, it’s a great Erasure album:

The yin to Depeche Mode’s gloom-wallowing yang, even when blighted by tragedy, flirting with despair, or singing in a dramatic baritone (see ‘Blood On The Snow’), Erasure cannot help but remain inspirationally, extraordinarily, enviably optimistic and ultimately uplifting. I seriously felt a far greater range and intensity of emotions listening to the 3:35 minutes of neo-synthpop anthem ‘Make It Wonderful’ than I did throughout in the entire hour and a half of that much-trumpeted 3D movie in which Sandra Bullock gets stranded on a bus on a boat in space for a bit. ‘Make It Wonderful’ and its poignant-yet-pumping sister track ‘Loving Man’ aren’t directly related to Christmas. They’re just a couple of stirring, tear-inducing, sadness-tinged, fucking irresistible love songs. In that respect, they’re thematically reminiscent of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s heartstring-tugging Christmas ditty ‘The Power of Love’, which didn’t have much to do with that Jesus fella beyond its nativity-themed video. Oh, and they’re two of the best Erasure songs to date.

You can stream the whole album and check out the videos for “Make it Wonderful” and “Gaudete” (both done in Rankin-Bass style stop-motion animation) below…

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ERASURE – Make It Wonderful