One thing I like about this Holiday Fable is that it does not trudge the beaten path of Christmas classics, but creates its own, and instead of using breadcrumbs to find its way home, it uses whimsical keys.
The album begins with a scored sleigh ride down the hill that leads to "The Alpine Lodge," where you may be inclined to engage in what I call a holiday strut; you will get the idea once you're close enough to the jukebox inside. "All Christmastime Sings" with its own infectious groove that may lead you to the dance floor, awkwardly in the knowledge that this may be an ode to seasonal affective disorder, but I could be wrong. It is another sad song to sing along to, but not too sad.
"Noble Fir" is not about a knight with a short first name but sounds like it is a walk through a forest of trees with assorted lights, fighting the dragons of depression on dark winter nights. If you hear or read the lyrics, then the path leading to the sled with "Holly on the Bough" is a little different. The pacing of the latter really assists in the vision of gliding with ease, and "racing through the branches and trees."
Martin is aware that the "Yuletide Cheer" cannot outlast the winter months, but still manages to imbue the song with a some of it, and score a holiday march this time.
"The First Snow of the Season" is a warning for chionophobes, and a declaration for everyone else, that the coldest of seasons is coming, but the song itself is a pleasant walk amongst beats simulating snow fall and those snowflakes that swirl astray the vertical path, and if you forget when you are whilst thou walk, you will be reminded before you find yourself amongst the "Winterberry Red, Winterberry White."
