Theta Naught
Naught Christmas
Differential Records
Street: 12.18
Theta Naught = Rachel’s + Do Make Say Think + Christmas
It’s Naught Christmas-time! If there is one thing to avoid like the plague this Holiday season it is overproduced, pandering Christmas albums. Luckily, for Theta Naught, Naught Christmas is none of those things. Theta Naught play hyper-literate post-rock rooted firmly in a neo-classical framework. With Naught Christmas, this SLC ensemble take traditional Christmas song structures, deconstruct, improvise around reoccurring motifs and rebuild into sprawling arrangements centered around recognizable melodies and movements. Songs like “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” are given a sense of foreboding compositional weight centered around guitar, cello, drums, keys and harp—pretty impressive stuff given most renditions of classic Christmas songs by contemporary artists are un-listenable. I was going to make some Trans-Siberian Orchestra joke here, but eh, it’s Christmas.