Violinist and composer Laura Cannell has released her most profound and shadowy exploration of the festive season to date with the album Brightly Shone the Moon. This collection presents a murky and melancholy reimagining of familiar Christmas carols, moving far from cosy tradition into a realm of stark beauty and haunting reflection.
A Sonic Journey Through Winter's Duality
Cannell is no stranger to musical winter rituals. She previously collaborated on the 2020 EP Winter Rituals with cellist Kate Ellis and the 2022 project New Christmas Rituals with amplified fiddle player André Bosman. This new work, however, stands as her darkest and most accomplished yuletide journey. In her liner notes, Cannell describes the season as a time where "joy and heartache try to exist together", a tension she masterfully evokes throughout the record.
The album's title is taken from a line in the carol Good King Wenceslas, specifically the moment before the 'cruel frost' arrives. It opens with the solemn tones of an organ, a deliberate nod to Cannell's childhood Christmases spent in the Methodist chapels and churches of Norfolk. This grounding in personal and geographical history sets the stage for an intimate, atmospheric experience.
Reimagining Tradition with Bleakness and Beauty
Cannell's signature fiddle work immediately comes to the fore on a rendition of O Christmas Tree/O Tannenbaum. She treats the 16th-century folk melody with a fragile, quivering touch, as if the tune is caught in a snowglobe, struggling to settle in memory. The familiar All Ye Faithful is transformed through murky, repetitive passages where the expected "come let us adore him" chorus would be. Here, the feeling is one of stuck emotion, evoking a sonic reminder of how smothering and strenuous the winter months can be for many.
Yet, beauty is never far away. Lost in a Merry Christmas features high, fluttering melodies that dance prettily in the air before melting into one another. Her version of Bleak Midwinter carries an urgent, icy energy, swapping outright melancholy for a kind of frisky, determined hope. Perhaps the warmest moment comes with the apocalyptically titled Angels Falling from the Realms, where flickers of long-forgotten hymns magically appear and disappear within the arrangement.
This is not an album for the Christmas party or for adorning the tree. Instead, it is a companion that carries the listener, hauntingly, through the passing of time. Ancient songs slip in and out of focus, lighting the way like Christingles in the seasonal dark.
Other Notable Folk Releases This Month
December also sees other significant releases in the folk and traditional music sphere. Ukrainian-Canadian singer Anna Pidgorna presents Invented Folksongs on the Redshift label. The album is the fascinating result of her travels to Ukraine to study with traditional practitioners, before weaving folk idioms into her own avant-garde style. It ranges from feral power on Drown in the Depth to urgent longing in What Else Can I Give Him?.
Released in time for Hanukkah, Michael Winograd's Plays Tanz! on Borscht Beat is a spirited live performance. The virtuoso clarinettist reinterprets the celebrated 1955 klezmer album by Dave Tarras and the Musiker Brothers, which originally fused Ashkenazi Jewish instrumental music with jazz.
Finally, Winter Wonderband offers Joy Illimited, a self-released grab-bag of festive tunes. The group, featuring folk musicians Jennifer Crook, Maclaine Colston, Saul Rose and Beth Porter, shines brightest on their take on Shepherds Are the Cleverest Lads (learned from the Watersons) and Boo Hewerdine's New Year's Eve.
