The Tiny Desk hasn’t seen string lights, paper snowflakes and garlands shortly. The vacation present is a practice we love — and have missed — at NPR Music, so when contemplating an artist to deck the halls of the workplace, I stored coming again to Sixpence None the Richer.
A lot of the vacation season, particularly as we get older, is about discovering a stability between shiny lights and darkish nights. Sixpence None the Richer’s music finds depth within the in-between, with buoyant melodies that twist and twirl, and lyrics underpinned by awe and marvel. “The Final Christmas” slowly waltzes the opening of this set, exploring the endings and beginnings of parenthood, impressed by the start of guitarist Matt Slocum’s first little one. Leigh Nash introduces “It Got here Upon a Midnight Clear” as a vacation normal she listens to year-round, its depictions of angels — whom she brilliantly calls “alien-adjacent” — a supply of consolation. Nash additionally shares “Everlasting Presents,” from one among her solo information, her candied voice sitting between a lilt and a twang as pedal metal rumbles and recedes beneath.
However you may’t carry Sixpence None the Richer to the Tiny Desk and never ask the band to play a few of its most defining work. “Melody of You,” to me, is a contemporary psalm — and of a bit with Christmas, as a love letter from an artist to their creator. After which, in fact, there’s the tune that retains discovering new life. Developing on its 30 birthday, “Kiss Me” has taken the band all over the world and located followers in sudden locations; Slocum joked with me that it is given him cred along with his daughters. However “Kiss Me” additionally gives a easy sweetness at a second when it is desperately wanted. Earlier than she sings, Nash sends us off with this message: “All of the hope and love on this planet to you, and completely happy holidays.”
And if you’re searching for extra seasonal cheer, you may stream vacation music 24/7 from NPR stations throughout the nation, completely out there on the NPR App. Simply click on on the Music tab.
SET LIST
- “The Final Christmas”
- “It Got here Upon a Midnight Clear”
- “Melody of You”
- “Everlasting Presents”
- “Kiss Me”
MUSICIANS
- Leigh Nash: vocals
- Matt Slocum: guitar
- Justin Cary: bass
- Jon Radford: drums
- Steve Hindalong: percussion
- Phil Madeira: accordion, lap metal
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Mitra I. Arthur
- Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
- Manufacturing Assistants: Dora Levite, Dhanika Pineda
- Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
- Tiny Desk Group: Kara Body, Josh Newell
- Govt Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Govt Director: Sonali Mehta
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
