“It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again)” by Todd Morse

“After the smell of all day cookin’ / After the day drinkin’ finally kicks in / And everybody’s at the table / Singing grace and diggin’ in…” croons Todd Morse in the opening lines of his new single “It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again),” his words instantly painting a picture of an American holiday with a modern, albeit unfanciful, poetry. The strings swing along to a swift beat in the backdrop, but nothing is rushed here; Morse is taking his time to make this as original a Christmas song as he can, which as most already know, is no easy challenge for any artist to face down. There’s a lot of adrenaline in his voice, and when matched up with the intensity of his band, the music they create starts a roaring fire of evocative tones that will only grow stronger in the next couple of minutes.

“It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again)” isn’t all about its velvety verse; on the contrary, I actually think that there’s as much to be said about the sterling quality of instrumentation here as there is the vocal, and moreover, the narrative it conveys. All of the different elements in the melody are so carefully woven together that it’s sometimes hard to tell if the brawnier part of the harmony is coming from one end of the spectrum or another. This isn’t because the track is lacking in seamless production stylings (quite the opposite, to be honest), but more due to its perfectly integrated rhythm, which produces a powerful sonic force as strong as any I’ve heard all year long.

URL: https://www.toddmorse.com/

This is one of the more refined songs that I’ve heard from Todd Morse in his career thus far, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s saturated in any sort of plastic faceting. The hook in the chorus is very poppy even without any extra polish, and had it been outfitted with a synthetic filter instead of an electric guitar’s wail, I think it would have been a little too sugary for most audiences. Morse is really good at amalgamating a lot of different parts together to make that perfect seasonal cocktail in “It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again),” and I actually think that more than a few of his peers could stand to learn a thing or two from the methods he employs here.

I wasn’t keeping close tabs on Todd Morse before hearing this latest release for the first time, but I don’t plan on skipping over any of his future releases at all. He’s got a lot of raw talent that still needs to be shaped a bit more before he can make a play for the international pop hierarchy, but in “It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again),” he issues a formidable holiday single among a market that is littered with a lot of really impressive content this December. His is one of the better standouts that I’ve personally heard lately, and if it gets into steady rotation anywhere in the States right now, it’s going to put him in a really great position for the impending New Year.

APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/todd-morse/id5611953

It’s not the most conventional holiday number that I’ve ever previewed, but Todd Morse’s fun “It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again)” works all the better for this exact reason. Morse isn’t trying to be anyone but himself here, and while he’s not really showing us anything about his artistic personality that we didn’t already know before this most recent release, I don’t think he was actually trying to break any new ground with the song. He’s got an amazing gift to share with his audience, and in “It’s Christmas (Let’s Try Again),” he’s pulling out all the stops to present that gift in a setting tailor-made for the excited holiday lover in all of us. No Christmas pop templates were used in the making of this recording, and though it’s sad to admit, that’s something I just can’t say about the bulk of new holiday singles out this month.

Nicole Killian