Joe Pisapia – Cosmic Christmas

Back in February, Joe Pisapia released his latest album Connection and we liked it. He’s now followed up on that with a collection of holiday appropriate tunes entitled Cosmic Christmas. We played the appropriately melancholy “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” on Volume 122 of the MUSIC podcast but the album is deserving of a full listen.

While we would have been pretty satisfied with a straightforward batch of songs of acoustic guitar paired with Pisapia’s distinctive voice, he delivers something much more enjoyably unique than that. Tracks like “My Little Drum” make great use of handclapping percussion and some spacey guitar. “I’d Like You For Christmas” leverages layered harmonies, female vocals from Jennie Okon and some lulling mellotron. Even the previously mentioned “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” is peppered with a snowfall like composition that lends itself perfectly to the melancholy longing of Christmas. There’s even “Alfie the Christmas Tree” – a John Denver ditty that feels decidedly like it’s lost narration from Nilsson’s The Point.

These songs probably won’t find their way into your non-holiday playlists during the rest of the year but they’re great candidates for heavy rotation right up until December 26th.