The constituent members of the appallingly-monikered Christmas Decorations  have released stuff on big-favourites-over-here 12K and Kranky, and have combined here for an excursion into a metaphorical Western Sahara of an area, fiercely disputed between electronica, avant-rock, electro-acoustic improvisation and folk. 

Blasted soundscapes abound, from the Endless Winter Fenneszisms of “Twig Harpoon”, to “Closer To The Carpet” which is more reminiscent of the more glacial moments of Neu! or Harmonia.  “Upstage The Drips” appears to be at first glance a Ry Cooder slide guitar one-horse town in the desert, complete with squeaking railway station sign, but brushing the sand from the windows shows plenty of life in the local tavern – flecks of abstract noise agitatedly hoist the track to a higher level.  The hum of “Browning Out” morphs into the scorched distortion of “Clay Margins” over a plain of minute and considered snatches of sound, strings, cymbals.  The influence of the folk underground emerges from the embers of “Mice Over Feathers”, an esoteric electronic meander through Sunburned Hand / JOMF territory.

Christmas Decorations have delivered a diverse yet precise set of compositions, all shot through with alluringly cryptic allusions to melody.  You could wander dazed through this for days without reaching the border.  Buy it as an unseasonal gift to yourself.

Listen to “Upstage The Drips“, “Clay Margins” and “Mirrored Mold” courtesy of Brainwashed.