Asobi Seksu have decided to play the ’surprise seasonal cover version’ curveball with a rendition of Joey Ramone’s “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)”, and follow it up with a straight pitch that’s all their own.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Christmas-themed records; call me cynical, but most of them are pretty trite, and the ones that aren’t usually rely on the sort of humour that evaporates as soon as the Boxing Day hangover kicks in.
I’ve also never been a huge fan of The Ramones (which is a cardinal sin among most of my peers) and my reasoning is similar – The Ramones were a joke that would have been much funnier had it only been one or two albums long.
So Asobi Seksu have their work cut out to impress me with this seasonal A-side, and while it retains the delightfully cute fuzz-pop textures they’re known for, no amount of warm echoey distortion and winsome singing can redeem what is ultimately a pretty dull record - “Merry Christmas” sounds sweet, but is ultimately a little saccharine.
Thankfully the B-side - “New Years” - is one of Asobi Seksu’s own pieces taken from the recent Citrus album, and is far superior. The texture is almost identical, but the fairytale chatter of Yuki Chikudate makes more sense when she’s doing her own thing, as incomprehensible as it may be at times – she has a style of delivery that makes you want to pick her up and give her a big platonic hug, coming across like a wide-eyed child on her first trip to the big city in the middle of a snowstorm. Personally I think this should have been the A-side, but that’s probably why I’m not a record company executive.
Still, it’s up to you which order you play the songs in, and I dare say once I’m full enough of the liquid brand of Christmas cheer, I’ll be singing along to “Merry Christmas” with everyone else … but I’ll be drunkenly hassling the DJ to play the “New Years” for the rest of the night.
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