Final verdict: 9/10 ★★★★⋆˙⟡
‘Tis the season! If my review of Seiko Matsuda’s winter-themed “North Wind” (1980) wasn’t enough ice-cold festivity to satisfy your reader’s fancy, here we got a proper, real, true, legit Christmas tune. By which I mean, it doesn’t dance around the meat, implying Christmas through winter-season imagery – nay, this goes balls to the wall and embodies Christmas itself. Minnesota raised singer-songwriter El Drifte released the 2-song EP “Holiday Songs” this November, nice and early for the season, and “Here the Holidays Is” – the song I’m most occupying myself with today, though the B-side’s definitely a not-half-shabby tune worth devoting some flowers to – is, well…
Why don’t I start from the beginning? I have a bone to pick with Christmas music, I really do. Technically speaking, it’s got everything I seek in my music – cheesy chord progressions, gospel choirs, traditional instrumentation, merry-go-lucky (or should I say merry-fuckin’ Christmas… ha… ha… ha… or should I say “ho… ho… ho…”… ho… ho… ho…) melodies – yes, I am that type of person, unapologetically so. And you know, it’s all so delicious… yet in some elusive way, most Christmas music loses obscenely many points in execution. Could it be the lyrics? It can’t be, because the cheeseball lyrics are what makes a Christmas song a Christmas song, and there’s no way you can mess that up to notable degree. So, is it the delivery? Well, that can vary a lot, and it’s too nuanced a topic to tackle, but I will say that if Mariah Carey’s incredible voice could manage to produce a song that drives me straight up the wall, it can’t be that either. And you see, it’s funny, for I’ve been researching sleigh bell sounds for the last 3 years in preparation for writing this very piece, and yet I’m just as clueless as I was when I started. Go figure.
But let me not ramble on for too long, lest I bore you – my point here is, while Christmas music feels programmed to my exact liking, it somehow tends to fall short of that. It’s an odd thingto contemplate this holiday season, really, and certainly not something I thought I’d find myself writing about one otherwise ordinary December midnight.
Here’s the hole in my narrative, though; El Drifte’s “Here the Holidays Is” – which is what should’ve been today’s main topic, had I not gotten carried away – is actually really good. Yes, it falls in line with all the Christmas music clichés I aforementioned, so it is, by definition, fine-tuned to my liking, but it somehow doesn’t falter in practice – peculiar! That I cannot quite place, but I will try my very best to, for your highness’ entertainment. So please, get yourself some popcorn and sit back while you watch (or, well, read) me struggling to reason why I like this bell-jinglin’, sleigh-riding, pungent-with-gingerbread Christmas choon.
Well, for one, there’s this tacky doo-wop choir going on. Consider my heart at once conquered. But that’s not all, no – do you hear that accordion? Since taking on accordionist duties early this 2025, I’ve started noticing that the accordion is actually a lot more prominent in rock music than I initially assumed (which is to say no, it’s not just “Weird Al” Yankovic, They Might Be Giants and – to put you onto someone new – Brave Combo). A delight, obviously, yet I still giggle whenever I catch a stray accordion in a pop/rock song. And so? This song conquered my heart and made me giggle. And the singer fellow has a southern twang going on? Look, that’s my favorite variety of English right there. I myself do employ something of a southern twang – not because it’s in my linguistic environment, but rather because I love that accentual quirk so much. So – heart captured, giggle produced, and ear happy to chance upon an instance of an obnoxiously prominent southern twang. Triple whammy! But oh, sweet summer child, just you wait…
I haven’t even gotten to the lyrics! Well, not that they’re super crazy in this piece, but they did get a chuckle out of me – notice, I said a chuckle, not a giggle. The two are different in that a giggle is usually accordion-induced, whereas a chuckle typically arises out of witty wordplay. And there’s plenty of amusing wordplay here! My favorite instance of it is “I don’t give a jingle bell what your religion is / Anyone can join the fun […] I don’t give a one-horse sleigh if you’re an atheist / The gang’s all here so join the party / ‘Cause here the holidays is,” a fun product of far-fetched censorship, which also means that “Here the Holidays Is” is apt to be sung around the fireplace with the entire family, without scandalizing the aunties and instilling less-than-Christian values in your baby cousins.
I do quite enjoy this nifty slice of Christmastime americana. Where it fits into the puzzle, where it blends into the fabric, I cannot tell you – you got the wrong guy. But like it, I do. A lot. Maybe “love” is the word? I don’t know, man. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced true love in my life, so what would I know? Again, you got the wrong fuckin’ guy.
Cheers to that – and don’t you forget, ‘tis the season! The season for a good tune and a hefty feast, that is. Do not neglect jingling your bells this holiday season, for Santa Claus is just around the block. 9/10.
ONLINE:
https://eldriftemusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/eldrifteofficial
https://www.instagram.com/eldrifteofficial
https://eldrifte.bandcamp.com
Silia 
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