Christmas music is just starting to drift into our lives; a dense, glittery fog that consumes shopping malls, radio stations and home hi-fi’s. Every year we get the split between ‘traditional’, and usually religious carols (‘Joy To The World’, ‘Away in a Manger’, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ etc.), and the pop charts. The festive audio sludge features millions of songs that have been released over the years (around 49,000 songs have ‘Christmas’ in the title), all attempting to tap into the Christmas market and only a handful being hailed as Christmas classics:
Who can forget: ‘Christmas Wrapping’, ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ (the most streamed Christmas song), ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Stop the Cavalry’, ‘Fairytale of New York’, ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’, and Noddy Holder’s pension plan, ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. These are songs imprinted on our DNA at birth. Whereas, who can remember: ‘Funky, Funky, Xmas’ (New Kids on the Block), ’21st Century Christmas’ (Cliff Richard), ‘Christmas in Blobbyland’ (Mr Blobby), ‘Have a Cheeky Christmas’ (Cheeky Girls), or ‘Dominick the Donkey’ (Lou Monte).
So, who would be foolhardy enough to take on the Christmas market and release a contender for Christmas number one? Well, Gasolina that’s who. Gasolina is the solo pop-project from ShitKid bassist Lina Molarin Ericsson, someone who has seasonal form having put out the super-catchy ‘Drunk Girl Summer’ earlier this year. Sadly, despite my best efforts, the masses did not make it the summer anthem it deserved to be. So why not double down for the Christmas market. Ericsson says,
“It was kinda always my dream to be Stockholm’s answer to Mariah Carey. I was having a meeting with PNKSLM in early October and half-joked about wanting to try and make a Christmas hit. They told me I’d have to have it done within 3 weeks if it was to be released in time, so me and Luke (one of PNKSLM’s label bosses) basically ran to the studio and started putting ideas together trying to get a song, and somehow we ended up making two!”
‘This Time of Year’ and ‘Expensive’ do not try and reinvent the wheel so we get bells that jingle and tinkle, major to minor chord changes, a soft pre-chorus leading to a huge chorus with an earworm tune, and a glorious de rigueur sax solo from Gavin Fitzjohn. It scores 100% on the Carey-o-meter, gets a solid 11 out of 10 for ‘sing-a-long-ability’, and causes involuntary swaying that would easily register a 5 or 6 on the Beaufort scale.
Gasolina has got a run in her Christmas stockings, and I imagine her eggnog is spiked with vodka and she lights her Christmas pudding with a flame thrower. So, pull on your ironic Christmas jumper, some flashing reindeer horns and make this a huge Christmas hit; it’s a cracker.
Gasolina on Instagram | Bandcamp | PNKSLM: Website
Review by Paul F Cook
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