Cassie was in the Vivian Girls, now broken up, and she had a solo album out last year. For 2015 she dusted off her Christmas songbook and recorded this collection of familiar tunes. As her Wikipedia page refers to her as "lo-fi indie," I don't think I have to embroider the description any further. It may help to describe the performances here as deconstructions, as listeners may not immediately recognize what are essentially popular and familiar holiday songs. In many places, she sings the melodies but substitutes different chords that make the songs sound more angst-y and downbeat, and there's an element of drone underpinning just about all of the songs, whether from synths, repetitive guitars, backing vocals or just the heavy reverb on her voice. The approach is interesting, though it won't be for everyone, and it makes all these different songs sound the same, though Vivian Girls fans will probably recognize the general sound. Among the tunes here are "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," " Run Rudolph Run," "Wonderful Christmastime," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Little Saint Nick," "Sleigh Ride," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Christmastime Is Here," "Blue Christmas" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." (Oh, and between Cassie and Train, Nevada-based holidays are getting a strong shout-out this year.)
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