[Cover photo credit to Dan Little]
The Pinkerton Raid, led by Jesse James DeConto, will be releasing an album of Christmas music with a twist, titled Jagged Vacance: Winter Songs By Other People, on November 29th, 2024. The decision to do an album of winter-themed covers was based on DeConto’s influential earliest memories of Christmas music, and the recognition that the “metaphysical” aspects of Christmas tradition are a bit of a minefield for him.
He explains:
I wanted to record winter songs that feel essentially human, that capture the loss and longing, regret and despair, the fallen leaves and cut trees, the death of the past that somehow carries hope and possibility for the future, the most basic joy of being together.
Today, we’re very pleased to premier The Pinkerton Raid’s rendition of “Happy XMas (War Is Over)” here on Wildfire Music + News.
Reimagining songs that have shaped the cultural consciousness is a brave task, and even more so if the musician has personally felt the song to be deeply formative. DeConto entering into a dialog with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 track “Happy XMas (War Is Over” meant he was contending with the affect of 50 years of loud speakers at shopping venues, the radio, and more. But there’s no question that his deep feeling for the song enabled him to prise it apart, take a look at its inner workings, and find an angle whereby he could bring out its full emotion and social conscience. If we’ve grown too used to hearing it, we might forget that the song talks a lot about responsibility and places the weight of peace on the audience.
DeConto’s approach to the song is very strings-forward and is also really defined by his vocal delivery. The sparkling, bright layers of strings are often stretched and carefully paced so as to hold back any energetic rushing forward into holiday celebration. There’s a sense of drawing back, consideration, and maybe even a hint of heaviness. The glittering strings contrast with the even more restrained and, at times, quite frayed and weary sound of DeConto’s vocals. That disjunction suggests a degree of isolation, but adding in choral vocals only suggests that this feeling of uncertainty is shared by many. It’s a soulful combination that really brings forward the exhaustion created by war, and the real-world toll of drawn-out conflicts.
Though this song was recorded a little while ago, it feels particularly of the moment, as we enter the holiday season faced with the Ukraine war, war brewing in the Middle East, and the conflicts that will only grow more pronounced in the USA following the 2024 election. Though DeConto understandably shies away from any metaphysical interpretation of the holidays, this song feels as much like a secular prayer in his version as it does in Lennon’s, a deeply felt wish for resolution to be part of the new year ahead. It carries the burden of caring about the future and acknowledging our own role in shaping it.
Jesse James DeConto shares about the track:
“Happy Xmas,” like “Imagine,” is one of those John Lennon justice songs that got seered into my psyche as a little kid in the ‘80s from my mom’s easy-listening radio. Without John’s naming what was wrong with the world in his songs, I don’t know if I would have studied philosophy or become a journalist or a songwriter or created anything intended to make the world a little kinder. For better or worse, this is one of the songs that made me care, made be believe it’s my responsibility to care.
For “Happy XMas (War Is Over)”, James Phillips of Bombadil handled audio production, keyboards, and additional percussion, and Justin Longerbeam handled mastering.
On the rest of the album, Jagged Vacance, DeConto takes on Vince Guaraldi, Elvis, Bon Iver, Counting Crows, Fleet Foxes, and more. His approach was “a close reading and reinterpretation” of some of his favorite artists.
Recording the album was quite collaborative as DeConto tracked bass with drummers Andy Reed and Chris Arnet, each on five of the 10 songs. They were also joined by trumpeter Cameron Collier for overdubs. Keyboards from Phillips and from Victoria Victoria’s Noah Elliott also play a part. Former bass player Derek Skeen and occasional collaborators Sarah Shearin, Alex Mitchell, Caroline DeConto, Megan Hollenbeck, and Suzanne DeConto contributed backing vocals.
The Pinkerton Raid has opened for Illiterate Light, The Ballroom Thieves, TopHouse, Tall Tall Trees, The Collection and Noah Gundersen. They’ve played at recent festivals like Mile of Music, Soil & Sky, FredFestVA and AVLFest with artists such as River Whyless, Carsie Blanton, Tall Heights and Amythyst Kiah.
