Teaming up for a unique take on the Christmas album, Sonic Boom and Dean and Britta discuss their love for the season without wanting to “whitewash” it.

As the nights draw in and the lights go up, we’ve all been gradually getting a bit more Christmassy as the weeks have gone by. For some, however, Christmas started way back in April. At least, that’s how it went for old friends Sonic Boom (aka Peter Kember) and couple and musical duo Dean and Britta (that is, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips – who also performed together in Luna following the breakup of Wareham’s previous band, the epochal Galaxie 500). Their new Christmas album, ‘A Peace of Us’, released on 22^nd November, but it was recorded in April in Portugal, where Kember resides.

The trio go back a long time as musical co-conspirators and further back as friends. Wareham first met Kember in London in 1989 at the end of a Galaxie 500 tour. “I think it was the second to last Spacemen 3 show… [so] I’m one of the lucky Americans who got to see them because they never made it over”. Since then, between Wareham, Kember and Phillips, there have been a number of musical collaborations down the years. “Pete remixed a bunch of songs from our first album [as Dean and Britta]”, Wareham remembers, “and we kinda liked them better than…”

“… than the Visconti mixes”, Phillips finishes.

Kember modestly suggests that “his were more quality, more pro (surprise, surprise, surprise) but I vibed in with the tracks”. Since then, the three have toured together, played in each others’ bands, and “If either of us has a Christmas song, we call each other, for some reason”.

Wareham explains, “This idea pops up every year at around October. This year I nudged everyone early and said ‘Can we do this?’”.

Recording in April in the Portugal sun, one might have expected the trio might need some kind of method preparation to induce the Christmas spirit, but in practice, “a nice lunch by the seaside” was about as festive as things got. Indeed, none of the trio really live lives that facilitate the traditional Christmas of Hollywood and John Lewis adverts. “These guys live in LA where they don’t get any snow”, Kember notes, and adds“it’s one of the few things I miss, living in Portugal”. As Phillips points out, there are a lot of “snow songs” on the record, so perhaps that absence helped inspire the nostalgic yearning we might discern in the recordings. “It’s hard to find a plum pudding in Los Angeles”, Wareham muses.

As is fitting for a collection that brings an unconventional, synthy, atmospheric sound to a mixture of familiar and more surprising festive tunes, the project is not really about celebrating the familiar, marketed idea of Christmas. “I think it’s more of a holiday record than a Christmas record”, says Kember. He elaborates, “I think what was really important was for it not to be a sort of whitewash Christmas, trying to sell you Christmas. Christmas can be a tough time of year for some people, people on low incomes, people who have kids but can’t really afford to buy them presents.” Looking back on his time in the UK, he reflects, “It used to be kind of punishing, the TV ads for Christmas toys were really intense and it must be tough for families with their kids seeing this stuff. I kind of wish we didn’t do the gift thing.”

‘A Peace of Us’ certainly invites more pluralistic, accessible view of Christmas, celebrating the seasonal weather and communality more than just the exchange of gifts. The Merle Haggard cover, ‘If We Make It Through December’ , to which Phillips brings more of a Lynn Anderson style, tackles the subject of financial hardship at Christmas head on. Yet the album as a whole is not so much about criticising Christmas materialism as it is about celebrating other more meaningful aspects of the season. Opener ‘Snow is Falling In Manhattan’ sets out the stall, David Berman’s evocative lyrics about watching the snow and sheltering old friends from the cold offering a human take on the season.

That song in particular resonates with what Kember shares about his own Christmas tradition of putting on “a waifs and strays Christmas dinner” for any friends “who would otherwise be spending Christmas alone here”. As he goes on, “I think all three of us are on the same page; we like the vibe of Christmas and the idea that at least for a day or two it’s peace on Earth and goodwill to all men”. With ‘A Peace of Us’, “we were hoping to spread that sentiment in any tiny way we can”, he says. The song choices, as well as the analogue warmth and indie charm of these recordings, certainly seems to do just that.

‘A Peace of Us’ is a free associative, delightfully idiosyncratic compilation of Christmas songs, chosen with a mixture of cool and levity that runs into the execution of the project. ‘Pretty Paper’ swirls out over a Suicide-style synth pulse, while ‘Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown’ makes an electro-psychedelic delight of the underrated, Sinatra/Hazelwood-esque theme originally written for ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. Discussing whether there were any songs that felt untouchable, the three express a bold kind of confidence. Wareham acknowledges that there are “a couple of definitive versions” of songs like ‘Little Drummer Boy’, but did not want to “shy away” from reinterpretation: “I’m not afraid of them!” Indeed, the interpretations of ‘Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Happy Christmas (War Is Over)’ that close the album ultimately feel vital to this album’s message.

On the finished record, you do not sense the heat of Portugal in Spring, only the conscious, hard-fought love for the season shared between these artists. Wareham jokingly suggests listeners should listen to it huddled round the Christmas tree or the “festivus pole” (more accessible for non-Christians and ‘Seinfeld’ fans). In following through with the joke, his voice slows as he reflects that in fact “Festivus for the rest of us” would have been a strangely appropriate title for the record.