The Jigsaw Seen “Winterland”

Independent, 2011

And you thought Christmas Psychedelia was a cookbook

• The Jigsaw Seen have been the complete package for some time; they are meticulous in creating not just the music but the packaging that surrounds it (the last record even came with a recipe card), so it’s no surprise that their seasonal offering is thought through, sequenced intelligently and comes in a lovely festive sleeve. They are in danger of bringing credibility back to the whole seasonal enterprise.

• Sensibly, they avoid heavy reliance on seasonal cliché.  Your run of the mill Xmas by numbers song wouldn’t begin with "cataclysmic temperatures abound, slush and powder form a gelid compound", but then it wouldn’t have title like ‘Snow Angels of Pigtown’.

  Slipping easily onto the list is a decent cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Circle of Steel’ with Dave Davies adding backing vocals. The ring and chime of 12 string guitars adds a seasonal frosting to songs like ‘What About Christmas?’ which has enough punch in the verses and a lack of reliance on the C word so that it can be enjoyed responsibly at other times of the year. They keep their holiday powder dry, only breaking out the choir and the woodwinds for the end of the season.

  ‘Winterland’s Gone’ the closer gives in to the temptation to sound like a sparkling grotto and this is fine because it is a song about the nostalgia for a season past, a wave goodbye for another year.