Julian Koster
, the quirky frontman of
the Music Tapes
,
Neutral Milk Hotel
member, and go-to singing sawman for the
Elephant 6
collective in general, steps out on his own here with a holiday album that makes a stunning showcase for his prodigious saw-playing talents. Or rather -- as his whimsical liner notes would have it -- his talent for encouraging saws to sing, which they actually do all by themselves. (
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,"
the only selection hear to feature a sound -- copious clanging bells -- other than saws, purports to be a field recording from a traditional Christmas Eve saw gathering.) The saws here, singing both alone and in gloriously harmonized duos and groups, offer up renditions of a dozen well-known Christmas songs and carols, and the results are entirely magical; at once wonderfully eerie and strangely comforting. Rendered in the high, lonesome, otherworldly wobble of the saws' voices, even the most frolicsome of holiday tunes (
"Frosty the Snowman,"
"Jingle Bells"
) become haunting and solemn, but
Koster
wisely devotes much of the album to the season's more poignant, plaintive melodies (
"Silent Night,"
"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
) which here feel utterly serene and angelic. As evocative as it is impressive,
The Singing Saw at Christmastime
is a refreshingly different and eminently listenable offering that should easily become a yuletide favorite. ~ K. Ross Hoffman