It's beginning to look a lot like 'A Very She & Him Christmas'

Another Christmas album. What are the chances that two great duos would release Christmas albums this season? The Gods, or Father Christmas' elves really are showering us with musical gifts.

Hollywood actress and singer-songwriter Zoeey Deschanel and guitarist and singer-songwriter M. Ward make up the delightful She & Him. I would advise anyone unfamiliar with the collaboration to acquaint themselves with their previous albums 'She & Him Volume 1' and 'She & Him Volume 2', they are must have hits which can never fail to cheer you up. They describe their music on their website as appropriate 'for an eternal springtime' and as such a Christmas album might seem a strange venture for the pair. Anyone who has seen Deschanel in 'Elf' will probably associate her with Christmas songs anyway, but I find their music so indulgent and warming (albeit summery) that it can only be further enhanced by a Christmas theme. 'A Very She & Him Christmas' is set to be a much softer, more acoustic album and the first single of the album 'The Christmas Waltz' is available here. This song really made me long for snow, the gentleness of Deschanel's country voice and the old-Hollywood richness of sound is enough to make you feel Christmassy at Easter. The album consists of 12 covers including 'Baby, it's Cold Outside' which I expect they'll make an 100% improvement on from the cover by Cerys Matthews and Tom Jones (shudder).

'A Very She & Him Christmas' comes on sale 24^th October, you can pre-order it now here and have it shipped with their very own She & Him wrapping paper or spend a little extra and get some winter warmer She & Him mittens or bobble hat to go with you purchase. If like me, you're not made of dollars and the cost of shipping alone is all your Christmas purchasing done, then you could get it on the 24^th and buy yourself some new mittens as a treat!

She & Him - The Christmas Waltz by MergeRecords

A reason for any Scrooges out there to be excited this Christmas!

For those of you in more temperate climates, i.e. NOT THE NORTH (where it really has rained for weeks on end), you may find it hard to believe there are only 72 days until we celebrate the pagan (now Christian) festival of Christmas once more. Aside from the tinsel and lights attacking you from all angles while you merely try to buy a  festive vegetarian haggis there are also the musical perks of Christmas. I don’t mean when VH1 churns out another top 20 countdown of Christmas songs chosen by a semi-celebrity, even though I am guilty of indulging in this vital advent viewing. No, no, no, I mean the excitement of your favourite artists giving you a huge gift of a sparkly, new Christmas themed album, or even better, a collaboration between two great artists.

Hold on to your bobble hats folks, this festive season sees the fabulous Emma Moss AKA Emmy the Great combine with none other than (her partner) Tim Wheeler. I have been excited about this for some time, but felt I should subdue such seasonal merriment until I’d bobbed for some apples on All Hallows’ Eve. However, it’s time to be festive, Christmas really has come early as their album “This Is Christmas” is being released by Infectious Records on the 21st November as a glorious gift from them to us. Until then you can have a pre-advent count down for the album release date OR, click the like on their face book page and get a free track to download entitled ‘Christmas Day (I wish I was surfing)’ and regular Christmassy updates.