The Cautious Arc has made a beautiful transition this year into a more house / dance focused act with new vocalist Iris at the mic. Taking her vocal prowess to the max (her sound echoes jazz legends Billie, Ella, etc.) the act decided to take a novel approach to a Christmas/holiday themed project… recording original tunes with live big band and swing jazz musicians and then remixing or revamping them into their new signature house / electronic vibe. The result is this brilliantly refreshing holiday album. One of the standout songs is clearly A LITTLE OF THAT NEVER HURT NO ONE which is one of the most clever “break-up” / I will survive Christmas songs ever recorded. In its swing jazz original form, it’s just brilliant.
 
The rest of the album is filled with such wonderful themes… even morphing cliches into refreshing sounds and metaphors. I WANT A UNICORN FOR CHRISTMAS is a complete revamp on the silly-but-cute classic I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS, but it’s not silly, it actually is so convincing, you will want a unicorn… too!
 
Album out on 28 November. Remix packages announcing soon.