17 year old high school senior and San Diego native Amanda Fagan is releasing a 5 song EP of Christmas music this season. "Christmas Lights Through Car Windows" features Amanda and her collaborator/producer/keyboardist Grace Thygeson on five original songs.
The title track "Christmas Lights Through Car Windows" highlights Amanda's mature voice and knack for meaningful songwriting, as it gives us a close insight on a uniquely SoCal Christmas. Espresso in the evenings while driving around the neighborhoods to take in the Christmas decorations, listening to Christmas music along the way are all part of the holidays where snowy Christmases are rare. There's a great sense of tradition and comfort wrapped up in this song. Knowing Amanda is 17 as I'm listening, I can't help but hear the song from the point of view of a teenager, but that gives the song extra meaning. It sounds like Amanda and her family have been doing this for many years, and it's a tradition filled with joy. Well done.
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| Amanda Fagan |
Amanda's voice has a touch of Dolores O'Riordan in it, especially on "All of My Decembers", a heartbreaker song about young relationships, hopes for the future, and their inevitable twists and turns.
"Bethlehem Road" is a counterpoint to the secular tile track. It's a more spiritual song, celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. It's quite heartfelt, and is impressively arranged with brass and percussion backing Amanda's vocals.
"Christmas Pageant" channels childhood memories of Santa and reindeer and those unforgettable pageants we were in as 5 year olds. Amanda sings of growing up and how Christmas changes, and how she sometimes wishes to go back to the days of the pageants. I'll tell you Amanda - those good memories of childhood Christmases never go away.
Amanda's singing is quite nice throughout all five songs - clear, tuneful, and pleasant. On the closing song, "A Lonely New Year's Eve", Amanda stretches her range a bit, and sounds great! (More of that for the next album please 😀) Blessed with a natural voice with tone and timbre beyond her years, Amanda stays within bounds and doesn't try to do too much, which fits the spirit of the album very well. Her songs don't need eye-popping runs, and in fact the more reserved approach brings more meaning and emotion to the songs than would trying to channel Ms. Carey or Ms. Clarkson. "Christmas Lights Through Car Windows" is a very impressive collection of songs, and I hope to hear more in the future!
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| Amanda and Grace |
"Christmas Lights Through Car Windows" drops on November 12th, 2021.
All the links...
All the links...
Amanda Fagan on Spotify
Amanda Fagan website: https://herecomesamanda.com/
Amanda Fagan on Instagram
Amanda's YouTube Channel
This album is unusually good!
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ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing and reviewing Amanda's Christmas Album. It's refreshing to hear "new" Christmas songs that I will add to my Christmas playlist. I got teary eyed -- brings back memories of Christmas past. The "Bethlehem Road" song was so powerful. For those of a certain faith, it tugs at the heart and meaning of Christmas. Having been single for many years before marriage, I recall "December" breakups, so "All of My Decembers" was for those of us who have been alone during the holidays. The same goes for "A Lonely New Year's Eve." I love the ending to that song. Again thanks for sharing. Great review!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I'm glad to hear that Amanda's songs have found another fan.
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