I’m happy to report that “Alone on Christmas Day”, New York City’s High Plains Drifters’ contribution to the long-standing tradition of acts producing Christmas-themed material, isn’t just a holiday season gimmick. Banging around for over four years now, the band has developed a strong and growing following reaching beyond the Big Apple area and singles such as this will only further burnish their reputation. Their 2021 EP Songs of Love and Loss went even further than their debut towards establishing them as an enduring presence. I believe “Alone on Christmas Day” reaches far beyond the usual ken of Yuletide material and resonates as a track for every season.
URL: high-plains-drifters.com/
It’s a thoroughly modern track with a slightly up-tempo pace and clean, spartan instrumentation. The four-piece builds their musical attack around traditional pivot points such as guitar, bass, and drums, but adorn this particular song with judicious synthesizer and keyboard output. It doesn’t dilute the performance. Instead, The High Plains Drifters possesses an idiosyncratic, highly individual way of incorporating such added elements without neutering the key components of their band sound.
Despite the subject matter essentially coming off as thwarted desire/love, there’s understated humor present in the song’s lyrics. They are otherwise plain-spoken, intelligent, and conversational without ever coming off as a pale regurgitation of other’s work. The video definitely exhibits the band’s sense of humor, as well as their undeniable stylishness. They spared no effort in crafting a compelling promotional clip that tickles the funny bone with intelligence while also providing a visual feast for the viewer’s eyes.
Greg Cohen provides bass, keyboards, synths, percussion, and vocals for the track. I never get the impression, however, that he’s spreading himself too thin, and the cool confidence he exudes throughout the cut helps make the performance all the more enjoyable. A consistent undercurrent of electric guitar imbues a further interesting wrinkle into the song’s arrangement without ever calling attention to itself. The High Plains Drifters prove themselves quite capable of weaving a low-key tapestry of sound and musicality without ever coming across as strident or heavy-handed.
The High Plains Drifters – Alone On Christmas Day [Official Music Video]
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They continue developing with each new release. I hope that “Alone on Christmas Day” harbingers a longer forthcoming release for this foursome because, if the song offers us evidence, their growth keeps moving forward at an exponential rate. It’s far from shabby for a band whose self-professed origins are, to paraphrase, born from a night of too much alcohol. There’s nothing wayward or inebriated about this performance.
I hear them as one of the most stylish units working in the indie scene today. They have more than enough skill and talent, however, to push far beyond the arbitrary borders of the indie world and still receive widespread critical acclaim. If they do, it will be on their terms alone. No one else in the indie music world or otherwise is making music quite like this and there’s every indication that they are scratching the surface of their considerable gifts. “Alone on Christmas Day” is well worth seeking out.
Clay Burton