Ye Banished Privateers – A Pirate Stole My Christmas
Naplalm Records
Release Date: 03/12/2021
Running Time: 35:46
Review by Emma Torkington
8/ 10
Bored of the usual xmas songs? Need something different? Then look no further, because this is where Ye Banished Privateers come to save you from Wham and Maria!
This 11 track album starts with “Ring The Bells”, which is a wonder to listen to, as it is a weird mix of vocals, not something you would expect to work but it does amazingly well. “Deck and Hull” is a great mix of the usual “fa la la” from the original “Deck the Halls” but with a pirate twang that you can’t help but sing along with, even at the late hour I am writing this! The ending of this song had me in stitches! The usual “12 Days Of Christmas” has a fantastic change to it, that I will happily play every year, again as the song plays on you start singing it without even realising. The clever use of pirate slang instead of the usual Christian lines is very ingenious and turns the now tired and out of date songs into something that you want to share with friends while drinking copious amounts of rum!
“O Cannonball” is a different tempo, taking a slower pace, but this doesn’t make the song any less beautiful. The mix of male and female harmonies actually stunned me for a brief moment. The acoustics of this song are something that you can not stop listening to. This is my favourite track by far, it just has a melancholy to it that pierces your soul. “Festival Days” is not a song as such, but over a minute of storytelling to guide you into the final part of the album. “Drawn and Quartered” is a fantastically gruesome song that makes you sing along loudly with a hardy drink in hand. “Away In The Gutter” is a Christian masterpiece that’s been beaten with wenches and mead!
It’s one of those albums that you can’t help but smile as you listen to it, which I cannot say about many Christmas albums! It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, one moment you are singing, the next you are shouting “Bring me more rum”. It has officially made it onto my xmas playlist and I am sure if, like me, you don’t take things too seriously, you will love it. The full album is now available on spotify along with their other tracks!
TRACKLISTING:
01. Ring the bells
02. It Came to Bloody Pass
03. Deck and Hull
04. 12 Days of Christmas
05. Sulphur Ahoy
06. Little Rummer Boy
07. O Cannonball
08. Festival Days
09. Drawn and Quartered
10. Carol of Bellows
11. Away in the Gutter
LINE-UP:
Anders ”Nobility” Nyberg – cembalo, pump organ and miniature piano
Anton “Quinton Taljenblock” Teljebäck – viola pomposa, fiddle, mandoline, cable cutting crashes and main chopper of the sloppy beats
Björn ”Bellows” Malmros – squeeze box, hurdy gurdy and voices of madness
Eva ”the Navigator” Maaherra Lövheim – violin, nyckelharpa and vocals
Frida “Freebird af Wærmaland” Granström – violin, viola and vocals
Hampus “Monkey Boy” Holm – the big drum and other floggables
Louise “Happy Lou” Gillman – feisty fiddle
Ina ”Battery” Molin – cajon, marimba, pompous percussions and all things beatable
Jens ”Wan Chou Zhong” Tzan Choong – obnoxious stringdrum, wee guitar, huge oriental fruit thing with strings and Chinese harpy harpy – aka Banjo/Guitalele/Sitar/Guzheng
Jim ”Silent Jim” Sundström – mandolino, guitarra, irish tenor banjo, false chord-posing, wishful singing, wrong stage-whistle and mould infested clothing
Jonas “Hogeye McGinn” Nilsson – rusty old 5-string
Magda “Magda Malvina Märlprim” Andersson – blood stained lute guitar and cherry vocals
Martin “Scurvy Ben” Gavelin – cajon, percussions and vocals
Nick “Meat Stick Nick” Bohman-Ernhill – ukulele bass, double bass and bass trombone
Peter “Quartermaster Blackpowder Pyte” Mollwing – crude singing, sentimental lyrics, desecration of primary sources and debatable British accent
Richard ”Old Red” Larsson – them thick and them thin strings
Sara “Landmark” Lundmark – percussion and marching drum
Stina “Filthylocks” Hake –violoncell and fipple pipes
William ”Shameless Will” Hallin -vocals, vanity, profanity, coin snatching and coat turning
Hampus “Bojtikken” Larsson – tight noose vocals and scrap percussion
LINKS:
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