For many, Christmas is one last respite of joy and celebration before we burrow down to endure the bleak frigid darkness of winter. For others this chill arrives earlier. Widowspeak’s Robert Earl Thomas has gifted us a melancholic holiday tune with new single “Merry Christmas from the Silhouette Lounge”.
A warm ensemble of horns play an introductory theme mirrored with guitar and piano,k which reveals an occupied stool in a nearly deserted bar on one of the most holiest of nights. Hushed piano and guitar chords further fill out the sparsely decorated noir-like scene as Thomas’ tender vocals, like Lou Reed sipping sleepytime tea, compose a character study of someone in deep regretful reflection.
The yearning for former identities haunt the narrator as temporary refuge is found in the very comforts and vices that may have caused those roles to slip away. Everything is placed masterfully to help sketch this heartbroken scene, the slow instrumental build of the chorus shows the passion still felt for estranged loved ones before a signature guitar solo from Thomas leads back to the sparse and lonely reality of the situation.
In a season marred by commercialized and artificial goodwill, “Merry Christmas from the Silhouette Lounge” brings to it some much needed raw vulnerability and realism with instrumentation still gentle enough for a children’s pageant. Merry Christmas.
Written by John Brouk
