Christmas III, Sunturns (Fika)

Fika Recordings is an alt-pop-rock label based in London, and for 2024 they've brought us this album by a Norwegian supergroup. Yes, that's a thing. Sunturns features members of such groups as Making Marks, The Little Hands of Asphalt, Mildfire, Flight Mode and Elva. Soundwise, it goes from power pop to alt-rock to chamber pop over its 10 original selections, instrumentally speaking, with vocals that might remind you of 60s and 70s pop groups from the Cowsills to Abba. Lyrically, well, they're from near, or maybe above, the Arctic Circle, so we get a lot of ambivalent feelings about the holiday season, starting with "New Snow," in which the foreboding begins; "Crash Course Christmas," in which the singer, faced with visitors, is having to put on his holiday game face; "Magnetic Field," in which someone is rebuked for bad behavior; "I Do," a ballad that starts ahead of the winter solstice and tries to find what little light is left at that time of year; "First Winter," an ode to a small child on the occasion of the holiday season; "Back in Town," about a Christmas return to a place you lived in the past; "Turtle Neck," a slightly loopy pop-rocker about asking for the title-described shirt as a gift; "Colibri Heart" offers a more upbeat holiday view even in the face of rainy weather rather than snow; "The Day Before the Day," a contemplative Christmas Eve ballad; and "This Christmas/Next Christmas," about trying to satisfy one's parents holiday hopes while dealing with their own family's holiday needs. This last one is apparently based on a Norwegian children's show, according to the press release. Downloads and streaming available, but the Bandcamp page is where you can get vinyl. And yes, there is a Christmas I and Christmas II available, more of the same, previously released in 2011 and 2015.