CHRISTMAS EP

The third release this year from the jazz crossover band The Reign of Kindo, the Christmas EP is a nice little collection of arrangements of popular jazzy Christmas songs. The songs have a nice heartfelt quality with a real compassion behind each of the tracks. Luckily, the songs aren't necessarily just straight off the chart covers, for the band made some nice jazzy arrangements and changes to the classics. Some are slow and laid back, some are nice and upbeat; it's overall a pretty good release, but, it really didn't need to be released. I guess it's nice to have something other than your popular radio station to play Christmas songs, but other than that this release really didn't need to happen.

Merry Little Christmas is a really soft compassionate track. Mostly just some nice soft jazz, the arrangements really beckons you to sit next to a fireplace and drink eggnog. It's a really nice track to listen to, and, seeing as it's less than 3 minutes, it has a nice quick listenable quality.

Dreaming of a White Christmas is a surprisingly new sound for the band, oddly found on a Christmas EP. The arrangement of this track is purely creative, having little but the lyrics to connect with the original. The upbeat feel and cool swing to the song really makes it a treat.

What Child is This lacks the great creativity of the previous track, but is still good. The song has a great backing power behind it, being the most "rocking" track on the EP so far. It opens with a nice jazzy piano piece, traditional to the Kindo, and goes on like most other versions of What Child is This. Overall it's a good track, but doesn't have that spark of Dreaming of a White Christmas.

O Holy Night is a slow and steady track. Nearly 7 minutes, it's actually the longest song in the band's entire collection. The song has a deep compassion and feeling behind each note. The song is a pleasure to listen to and really puts into that heartfelt mood that Christmas once held for most people; now it's just a commercial holiday extravaganza. Again, this is a good track, but isn't spectacular.

ALBUM OVERALL: A good, but non-essential release, just as the 3 star rating says. There really isn't much to say about the album, except there are some really nice creative arrangements of traditional Christmas songs, with some cool jazzy twists. Overall, however, the release was a little superfluous and unneeded. 3 stars.