Christchurch Power Pop act Imperial April ushered in the festive season with their collection of Christmas inspired songs, making up An April Christmas. Equal parts tongue-in-cheek and legitimately festive, the songs each focus on a different side of the silly season.
Unabashedly festive, I Love This Time of Year announces its arrival with church bells. The driving song revels in the tackier side of Christmas, declaring a love for terrible christmas cracker jokes and cheesy holiday movies. A defiant shout pushing back the grinches of the world with holiday cheer.
Present Anxiety, with it’s jangly guitars and wiggling synth, unpacks the dread that so often accompanies the impossible task of buying the ‘perfect’ gift for a loved one. Once a year when Michael Buble ushers in the Christmas Apocalypse of frenzied consumerism one should stop and ask themselves if putting their credit card in debt is really the best way to show love to another.
Wouldn’t Trade This Christmas
Fuzzy guitars weave in and out of each other before giving way to a familiar scene for most; Long Christmas day journeys to go have inevitably awkward conversations with distant relatives or family friends. But despite Christmas being an uncomfortable experience for many, it is often the one time of year we make the effort to reconnect. I wouldn’t trade this Christmas for anything at all.
Christmas Star begins with a warped, finger picked guitar melody that sets the scene for the song. The lyrics follow a character for whom Christmas is a reminder of another life. Like so many others, this time of year is no longer the source of joy it once was. The chorus finds our character at the end of themselves, with no other options other than to wish on a shooting star to turn their life around. By the end of the song the sparse arrangement is augmented by a flurry of atmospheric instruments bringing a beautiful chaos to finish things.
Very Merry Christmas
For the 11% of humankind who live in the Southern Hemisphere, the snow filled Christmases of Macaulay Culkin are replaced by sunburnt necks and barbecues. The descending chimes and palm muted guitar frame memories of hearing carols in the summer heat while sadly being geographically distant from loved ones. Very Merry Christmas is for anyone who has spent the holiday season separated from family.