Mark Gunner has created a wholly new Christmas sound with this, his latest single, ‘This Christmas Please’. It's a Christmas song, yes, but it doesn’t play with the tropes of old. It's new, crispy, clean and solemn and it hit me in a personal way that most other songs in this vein do not. The use of muted guitars, a more minimal backing that isn’t blown out with horns and sleigh bells, the vocal that remains solitary, supported with layers but does not focus on harmony. It all adds up, and it has created a sound that I would describe as tender, acute, and honest. With the world as it is, with the struggles many are facing, it is nice to have a holiday song that doesn’t boast riches; doesn’t blare golden horns and silver bells. It simply sits, singing beautifully in the cold about people, and their connections.
The textures are what make the song stand out for me, those guitars, that voice. They blend so well, the guitars are low, thick, wooden, you can hear the grain. The vocals contrast, they are high, clear, crisp and smooth. It's a duet that works wonders. When you add the rest of the accoutrement, bass, drums and minimal idiophones, the sound is warm, close and subtle.
It shines like Christmas, but one spent at home, with family, the good times, the ones you remember. - FREDDIE MCKEE