Esquivel, Mancini & Gainsbourg walk into a holiday party…
Imagine a holiday party in that great bachelor pad in the sky, where Esquivel, Henry Mancini, and Serge Gainsbourg are on the guest list. 11 Acorn Lane – the NYC duo comprised of Swiss-born Thomas Foyer and Englishman Neal Pawley – have created the soundtrack to that soiree. Witty, meticulous, and above all festive, the duo’s latest release ‘Happy Holy Days’ (Oct 5/Wooden Hat Music) mixes eleven yuletide classics including “Silent Night,” “Deck The Halls,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Oh Tannenbaum,” into a potent holiday cocktail with traces of funk, exotica, electronica, traditional European music and more.
‘Happy Holy Days’ may sound like the work of a full orchestra, but it was painstakingly arranged and recorded over three years by two guys in one room. Locked away with an armory of instruments ranging from ’60s analogue gear to the latest cutting edge technology, 11 Acorn Lane spent “hundreds and hundreds of hours of throwing ideas back and forth,” says Foyer, “trying out different grooves, chasing a vibe, building an orchestra out of the sounds in our heads. ”
Genres and instrumentation shift at the drop of a hat; horn sections and drum machines collide with upright bass and stacked harmonies, only to give way to Spanish guitars and trilling flutes. Listen to album opener “Jingle Bells,” and you’ll get the idea: http://bit.ly/9Ck7aK
You’ve never heard holiday music like this before, but chances are you have heard 11 Acorn Lane. The band’s distinctive sound has landed them prominent placements in a number of films and TV shows, including an upcoming episode of the hit HBO series “Bored to Death,” “Weeds,” “Ugly Betty,” and PBS’s “Roadtrip Nation” among others. Foyer and Pawley each have their own impressive resumes outside the band, too. They’ve shared the stage and/or recorded with Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Joss Stone, Rafael Saadiq, and many more.
‘HAPPY HOLY DAYS’ TRACKLISTING:
1. Jingle Bells
2. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
3. Silent Night
4. Deck the Halls
5. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
6. Mazinka
7. Floats and Balloons
8. Kling Glokchen
9. Oh Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)
10. Auld Lang Syne
11. It’s a Double Mazinka!
