Elouise ~ Santa's Little Belter:
Following up her epic Stardust & Stardust Melodies EPs, Elouise has now gone all festive with Santa's Little Belter (also the title of her upcoming Christmas shows in London). What's brilliant about the EP is that you can already imagine a narrative from the 3 songs that would no doubt fit extremely well in her live shows; alternatively there are 3 wonderfully produced and performed Christmas tunes that stand up on their own merit. I'll attempt to do each song justice, track by track...
Dear Santa (Bring Me A Man) ~ It's every single girl (and gay guy)'s dream to get all snuggly and warm with a foxy fella under the mistletoe each year isn't it? I was only aware of this song because of a recent cover by Australian girl group Young Divas putting a dancified version on their last studio album. This rendition takes the song to a whole new level. It's like The Weather Girls meets Donna Summer's Last Dance remixed by Chic. And given a shake down by Santa's elves themselves! It has a really organic, natural sounding disco vibe that is created through using real instruments (IMAGINE) rather than studio trickery of sound effects, pre-programmed synth loops and a bass machine. It's reminiscent in a way of the entire Voulez Vous album by Abba and twice as camp :) It does begin very tribute to Last Dance - an almost reverent, hushed, piano fuelled ballad, with sumptuous harmonies and pleading lyrics. This all spirals into a very tribute to It's Raining Men with a deliciously camp "hi (hi!) We're Santa's Little Belters..." spoken intro to an increase in tempo and glitter dust flying through the air like snow on Christmas morning. Now is as good a time as any to say that the Belterettes really give added joy to the tune and enhance Elouise all the way through the song, a real tour de force. It's like having a sixties girl group as backing vocalists!
As mentioned, the feel of a live band aids the track enormously - all muted horns, funky piano, throbbing bass. Over all of this, Elouise manages to purr her wish list with sex appeal and conviction, while ably conveying her inner yearning for a fella without it seeming desperate. Take 2m36s on the full version - she belts out her needs in a way that would have the x-factor live studio audience making themselves wet with adulation for the power of the performance. The choruses are so layered that it's a reward each time you listen with new instrument quirks and backing vocalist magic revealing itself each time. There's an absolutely gorgeous moment from 3m43 onwards where a brass instrument plays Deck The Halls over the thrusting dance track and the Belterettes add some fa-la-la-las to the proceedings. This then begins to cast a festive spell, as if conjuring up a man with Elouise bringing her fella to life with the magic words of "Let it Snow" (think about it, it's quite rude in a way :D) and the Belterettes weaving their wintry alchemy with those bewitching chants of fa-la-la-la/fa-la-la-la on repeat. It's almost a seasonal, spiritual successor to her Could It Be Magic interpretation from earlier in the year. As if all of this wasn't enough, Elouise gives a truly stunning vocal performance, loaded with nuance, passion, a cheeky wink and a thorough understanding of the lyrical flow of the tune. Stand by to be stunned, because this is knockout.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) ~ More organic, live sounding magic happens on track two and it's as if Elouise has dragged Darlene Love and the E-Street Band down to the studio :) It's more "traditionally" festive than Dear Santa, with a lovely shuffling sleigh bells and a rousing horn section giving the tune a rather euphoric feel. However, like all the best Abba tracks (for example) there is a sadness hidden among the joy as Elouise details a Christmas without her man. It has the horniest, most playful sax breakdown of the year in the middle 8 (take that Edge of Glory!), giving the tune a timeless, classic feel that makes you instantly fall in love with the track. A crescendo of "please, please, please" by Elouise (and the Belterettes! Elouise-ites) brings the track to a screaming musical orgasmic conclusion. And there's one final shudder of joy as Elouise adds some spine tingling "ooooo"s over the backing vocals and instrumentals. It conjours up images of frosted windows, yearning glances, snowy lanes - and there really is something quite magical about making a song so vivid in it's imagery through lyrical and musical interpretation. If this was an edible treat, there's no doubt it would be a moist Christmas chocolate yule log... :D
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas ~ This features one of the most enchanting and beguiling introductions to a song that I've heard in a long time. A lovely tempered down vocal from Elouise plays delicately with a truly charming piano performance that continues throughout the entire song. There are some lovely chord progressions and the pianist knows when to build the tempo, crescendo the volume and reign it in to let Elouise shine. They complement our heroine perfectly - and she rewards this with her most beautiful vocal since last year's stirring You'll Never Walk Alone. There's a simply heavenly scale-progression of chords around the 2m10 mark that gives way to a fragile, plainative wish for peace and harmony at Christmas time. It's beautiful in it's simplicity; it's simplistic in it's delivery of beauty. I'm genuinely a bit tearful just from listening to it...
The narrative ~ There is wisdom in structuring the tracks in the order I've given them here. Dear Santa sees Elouise search for a man, perhaps conjouring one up with her festive powers, to see her through the long lonely nights by the fire (and hey, if that fire gets out of hand, well obviously the new dude is going to be a fireman of her dreams) and this continues the mystical theme of Could it Be Magic and the perfect fella theme of the aforementioned Fireman of my Dreams... Flash forward a few years and the reality isn't quite as rosy as it should be, with Elouise pleading with her chappy to return to her again for the holidays. Placed in the context of alone again (naturally), it adds a pathos and sadness to an already morose (yet musically uplifting) number. So luckily it's the optimism and perfect hope of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas that rounds off the EP - a tune about seeing the best in things, whatever your situation. Elouise and her crew become excellent story tellers, perhaps even when they don't intend to. A triumph of a Christmas release.
Buy Santa's Little Helper here and here.
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