Not for the Fragile

 

The indie compilation I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas is a CD benefitting Amnesty International, and it’s not for those prone to the Christmas blues … or maybe it is. The comp is often beautiful – Au Revoir Simone’s swirling “Christmas Time is Here,” for example – but the bells don’t jingle here. The lights on the tree are shorting out, but that doesn’t matter because the tree was really just a coat rack. Nothing prepares you for Turk Dietrich of Belong’s radical take on “Blue Christmas”. Dietrich and Belong are from the West Bank, and he lets you enjoy Elvis’ holiday classic as you’d experience it from the bottom of the pool.