Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer
Artist: Relient K
Label: Gotee

Is it me, or it them? 

Relient K's Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer amounts to another edition of their equally-wittily titled 2003 holiday release, Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand, expanded by seven more songs from its original ten. At the time of their shorter album, their celebration of Christ's earthly natal day struck me as blah and samey.  Now, however, I'm about ready to proclaim their genius again.

Perhaps the difference is that the expansion in this new, lengthier album reveals all the more layers to a band that keeps a good name given to increasingly tired and corporate pop-punk.  Relient K's easy defensibility on aesthetic grounds makes their theological acumen-and their seeming to be appealingly balanced, godly guys-that much easier on the ears.

It's heartening to hear RK connect the Lord's incarnation to His crucifixion and resurrection on "I Celebrate the Day" and further explore the joy that awareness brings on "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)." "I Hate Christmas Parties" and "Boxing Day" posit the same kind of thoughtfulness into full-on emo-ness, without being Dasahboard Confessional mopey about it. 

They know when to jettison their Sufjan Stevens and Ben Folds allusions and hit the hilariously punky overdrive that was their initial appeal. Hear the influence in their rendition of "I'm Getting Nuttin' For Christmas" and how RK headman Matt Thiessen believes he won't get any goodies from Santa because of his contribution to global warming. The power metal chors underlying their take on "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" make a hoot of that holiday-bridging standard.

And if The Beach Boys are looking for vocal dopplegngers, these dudes from none-too-surfy Ohio may be the match if what RK does with their introduction to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and their a capella "Auld Lang Syne" are any indication. They work a similar effect in a jokier manner on the hidden final track, their turn on "Good King Wenceslas." 

There's more to enjoy when Relient K celebrates Christmas than I'd first recalled. Or maybe it's them. Either way, this should age well.
 
Jamie Lee Rake