How Christmas should sound

I know, I know. You hold fond memories dear of Bing Crosby crooning or even Amy Grant and Steven Curtis Chapman singing the old familiar standards. And there’s certainly a market for that, seeing as how every decently known artist has a tendency to eventually unfold a holiday-tinged release. But you have to admit, they all start to run together. Right?

Leave it to Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum to completely unveil what’s sure to be the standard for any forthcoming collection of Christmas tunes in the near future. The Dawn of Grace is hardly another ho-hum entry, but rather the most beautifully wrapped gift underneath the sonic tree.

Only two new tracks are present here, although that’s a bit deceiving since some of these are completely foreign to most. As for the well-known, they, too, are infused with a creative energy missing from other compilations. “Angels We Have Heard on High” comes alive under Nash’s beautiful vocal, while “O Come, O Come” borders on triumphant.

Jars of Clay’s Dan Haseltine guests on “Silent Night,” and the tit-for-tat vocal arrangement works in spades. As for the new tracks, “The Last Christmas” is pitch-perfect for Nash’s layered vocals and Slocum’s wintry strum on a simple acoustic arrangement.

The Dawn of Grace stands as an ideal example of the talent of Sixpence None the Richer. Whether they’re dealing with original material or remakes from every other disc, the output is remarkable all the same. –Matt Conner