My Christmas EP brings together arrangements of two carols and three new compositions. The download also includes a lead sheet of "Glamorous granny" with lyrics.
"I wonder as I wander" is arranged for nylon strung guitar and string quartet.
"Winter's child" is inspired by the book of the same name, written by Angela McAllister and illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith.
It tells the story of Tom, who wishes Winter will never end, then meets another boy who shares his love of snow and ice. Playing together every day, Tom hardly notices that spring doesn't come - then he realises the terrible effect unending winter is having on the countryside and his sick grandma. His friend is Winter's child, and for the seasons to go on the friends must say goodbye until next year.
I recorded the instruments first then added ten vocal parts, which was a lot of fun but tested the limits of my vocal range.
"Hitting the slopes" aims to evoke the joy of Winter sports; it begins with an evocation of mist on the mountains, played on electronic guitar then breaks out into sunlit snowfields of ski rock/jazz.
"Glamorous granny" features the surprisingly unusual combination of ukulele and ukulele banjo. I hesitated to add to the genre of comedy songs on ukulele because for me the instrument is too good to typecast. But this song rather insisted on being written, after a friend told me about his experiences on a dating website for older romantics.
"We three kings" starts from the Roland Kirk version and converts it into a groove for nylon strung guitar.