Christmas Mood is flirty, sensual, and packed with innuendos that would make a fun time trying to decipher the not-so-hidden meanings behind them with your special someone, but most of all, it’s a gorgeous song with a majestic vibe that I can’t see to get over, exploring more layers of musical richness with each listen.
Jesabel, a singer/songwriter hailing from Jacksonville, Florida, released this alluring single around Christmas time, and it suffices to mention that the Christmas mood we’re discussing here is one that’s totally different from the innocent and festive one you have in mind. This playful wordplay is paired with a piece of songwriting that I can easily describe as sublime.
The arrangement is layered and rich, the composition is modal and scintillating, and the voice is sensual and warm, the delivery is inviting. The outstanding string arrangement, courtesy of Anton Patzner, is grand and majestic, opts for dramatic violins and violas instead of a full quartet, which lends the arrangement a sense of heightened tension and makes it more potently emotive, and it helps that the composition is in the playful and exciting Mixolydian mode, which in turn helps the song’s tonality stand out and sound special. Usual Christmas musical tropes are also at full blast, which anchors this song as one that’s indeed for Christmas, just a special Christmas.
Playful, quirky, and endlessly loaded with musical ingenuity, Jesabel’s Christmas Mood is the Christmas gift I never knew I needed. Another gift is my discovery of Jesabel’s hauntingly gorgeous voice, and her lush songwriting. With co-writing and production credit given to Jonathan Grant Berlin of The Loft Studio, I can only sit and wait for more musical offerings that combine those two names, whose chemistry is outstanding. Sublime.