Christmas always puts me in a bit of a musical quagmire. I love theologically rich Christmas hymns but I don’t like the idea of “Christmas music.” I don’t like the idea that music becomes associated with a particular season, though every Autumn, I like to listen to The Samples, Joe Sample’s Old Places Old Faces and the Dirty Three. I realize that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but personal taste doesn’t necessarily have to. Into this mixed-up world of seasonal subjectivity has come Friction Bailey.

Friction Bailey is made up of the husband/wife duo Steve and Joy Guiles. You may recognize Steve’s name from his part in Pushstart Wagon. Whereas Pushstart Wagon deftly mines the fields of what some might call “power pop,” Friction Bailey is a rather subdued affair centering on acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies.

The Silent Night features acoustic renderings of several traditional Christmas hymns. Steve recorded the majority of the instruments (including bass, guitars, dulcimer, casio keyboard, piano, harmonicas, and percussion) in his own home studio. The result is a warm tone that holds throughout. Let’s get the obvious (yet true) descriptors out of the way: somber, reflective, sparse, intimate, subtle, understated yet powerful. Friction Bailey’s music has been compared to The Innocence Mission, Mazzy Star and Over the Rhine, but the duo has carved out an identity of their own while standing in these same circles.

The album opens with “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” perhaps the album’s most upbeat track, immediately setting the tone, beginning with male/female harmonies against acoustic backdrops. Though the instrumentation is often quite sparse, the sound is anything but thin. Instead, the couple have learned the valuable lesson that less is often more. Their is a clear focus on the words as meditations on Christ, which sadly, is often lacking in much “Christmas music.”

The two originals (”We Will Sing” and “Christ the Child King” fit well among the traditional numbers, echoing many of the rich theological, worshipful sentiments. “Christ the Child King” asks: “Do we have to know about or understand redemption or the sacramental lamb? Do we have to comprehend the Trinity? How He was God and man and what that means?” The chorus then answers: “It is finished, what He had started at His birth. Christ, the child king, here on Earth.”

The album is mellow, but it is certainly not boring. The sparse accompaniments allude to the traditional melodies we often take for granted, while adding just enough flourish to pull out the theological richness of many of these songs. This is the perfect music for a warm fire on a cold night. This is haunting music bearing the weight of the world’s greatest truths; a perfect pairing.

The Silent Night began as a Christmas E.P. that turned out to be a full-length release. Pressed on beautiful maroon linen with gold print, the packaging is beautiful. Add to that the fact that this is a limited-edition release (only 500 made), and you may have just found the perfect gift for your music lover.

• Purchase Friction Bailey’s The Silent Night at CD Baby
• Read The Blah Blah’s interview with Steven Wesley Guiles
• Visit Friction Bailey’s official website