Smith & Burrows

Funny Looking Angels PIAS***

This Christmas album from Tom Smith (Editors) and Andy Burrows (ex-Razorlight) ditches festive cheer for seasonal introspection. It is low on levity, but has enough perfunctory references to snow and Santa to banish that inner Grinch for its 36 minutes. As the Snowflakes Fallallows Burrows to do his best Elliott Smith impression, but it's the Editors frontman, an unlikely Christmas crooner despite his icy baritone, who unashamedly namechecks anti-government protesters, homelessness, ageing, and his young son, all while claiming to "skate across the Thames, hand in hand with all my friends" on When the Thames Froze. There's an even split between originals and covers – the versions of Black's Wonderful Lifeand yuletide standard The Christmas Songprovide the icing on the cake, both starkly stripped back and cloaked in darkness. See smithandburrows.co.uk

Download tracks: This Ain't New Jersey, The Christmas Song