Last Winter We Didn’t Sing [coll] – [Thor's Rubber Hammer Productions]

Winter finally descended onto California this week and it’s fitting that this compilation “Last Winter We Didn’t Sing” (a 2008 holiday sampler from Thor’s Rubber Hammer) bubbled to the surface of the review pile. All of the pieces on here are “winter-inspired” and include pretty guitar by Scott Tuma, a somber song with strings and female vocals from The Instruments, experimental solo improv on pedal steel from Susan Alcorn, and a few Christmas-related tracks. There’s some electronic fuzz and sampling of news broadcasts on the Greg Davis track “24 Hour News/Silent Night,” a piece which combines the beauty of “Silent Night” with the incessant chatter of the news in a battle for the listener’s attention. There’s also some lovely drifty sounds from Fabio Orsi. Bundle up….