Side-project, supergroup or new musical direction? Call it what you will, this trio of Jogging, Villagers and No Monster Cry members – operating under the aliases “Son”, “Boy” and “Kid Christmas” – have come up trumps on their debut record.
While tipping their caps to reunited, boozed-up US troublemakers The Replacements, Women’s Christmas avoid post-punk cliche. Instead, they land somewhere between Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips and New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus. This is no bad thing. Opener ‘Thumbs Up To The World’ – despite its Yann Tiersen toy piano intro – gets the project off to a flyer via crashing cymbals, group howling and grinding guitars. ‘Chalklines’ is dragged along at speed by a beefy, aggressive bassline, and builds to a joyous crescendo. Blink and you’ll miss ‘Summer Born, Winter Bred’ and the ephemeral ‘Bubble On A Shelf’: at 12 tracks in just 35 minutes, the boys don’t mess about.
The Replacements were notorious for playing while obliterated drunk: they were permanently banned from Saturday Night Live in ’86 for just that reason. Shall we expect enthusiastic instrument smashing from Women’s Christmas in the coming weeks?
Out NOW.