When it comes to Christmases, 1994 may be up there as one of our favourites – proper Christmas songs from East 17 and Mariah Carey battled it out with Oasis ‘Whatever’ for the coveted (it actually was back then…) number 1 spot. Santa brought us Fifa 95 AND Jurassic Park on VHS and you could still feel the magic – it didn’t seem like there were any brutal fights for discounted TVs back then. It appears that Uncle Luc has the same wistful nostalgia for Christmases of the early 90s – and he’s willing to tell us all about them in his festive song, ‘Christmas 1994’.
Opening very much in the vein of Bright Eyes’ ‘First Day of My Life’ – complete with pedal steel from BJ Cole – there’s some nostalgic fanfare as Luke recalls Christmases past and some of his favorite presents (‘a Zelda LCD and the watch from Dick Tracy’) and family traditions: ‘Home Alone on VHS, promptly chewed up to our distress’, before reminiscing about when he first had the chance to show off his skills on a fully amped-up guitar – ‘Played it all day long, my fuzzed-up Santa Clause received polite applause’. As he talks about the crushes and OC box sets of 2003, he then looks back at how Christmas means something so different and much more personal as you get older: ‘Christmas, you’re so much more than the gifts propped up by lists’, ‘How I miss those family gifts…’
Also on the EP, ‘Ice Cream’ could have slotted nicely onto Luke’s ‘Humblebrag’ album. It’s again a look back at younger years and how he tried to break ‘ancient rules set in stone’. There’s a burst of early-Adam Green-esque fuzzball guitar that catches the power-pop essence of Luke’s old band Stagecoach. Christmas is just around the corner and Uncle Luc has had an incredible year – ‘Christmas 1994’ is the icing on the (fruit) cake.
Filed under: EP review, New music, Preview Tagged: alternative music, BJ Cole, Christmas, Christmas song, folk, indie, indie music, London, Luke Barham, new music, pop, pop music, Stagecoach, Surrey, Uncle Luc
