Charlie Dore – The Man Who Built Christmas
Black Ink Music – 26 November 2021
As you may have gathered from the title, The Man Who Built Christmas is an early musical tinsel treat from Charlie Dore. This three-track EP is very much of a festive persuasion, opening with the self-penned samba-shaped tale of Santa and Edie featuring Julian Littman on fingerpicked acoustic guitar, Gareth Huw Davies on upright bass and Quentin Collins providing the trumpet glow. Here we’re introduced to an ageing actor whose agent never calls and is once again back in the department store, taking a nip from his hip flask between listening to kids reeling off their wants list. Meanwhile, down on the ground floor perfume counter, there’s Edie, a store veteran of forty years who can’t bring herself to retire. Back in the day, she and the actor shared a laugh, but he never got the nerve to tell her how he felt. However, when he nips out onto the fire escape for a smoke, she turns up too and asks for a light and, hey, guess what. It’s a bit like a sketch from one of those Christmas portmanteau movies that fancy themselves as another Love Actually, and rather sweet.
The waltzing title track, featuring ukulele, cello and violins, is one of two co-writes with Littman, Dore slightly reminiscent of Janis Ian on another narrative, a touching story of a father who’s all fingers and thumbs trying vainly to put together a store-bought dolls house for his daughter on Christmas Eve before giving up in defeat. However, be prepared to have a lump in your throat, and a tear in your eye with the last verse as a little girl excitedly discovers Father Christmas has been and, in the true magic of the season, left her a cardboard and ply playhouse.
By way of something different, the lightly jogging third song imagines what happened When God Met Richard Dawkins, the latter being the celebrated British evolutionary biologist and author, well-known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. Playing harmonium, a quiveringly warbling Dore conjuring thoughts of the McGarrigles recounts how the encounter took place as the pair, both aged three, were waiting with their mothers to visit Santa’s grotto in Selfridge’s and got talking about what would be on the tree on Christmas morning. Dawkins has asked for a chemistry set but, as it turns out, so has God, resulting in a scuffle and fisticuffs before both concluding that believing in Santa’s a bit lame when you’re three, only to be torn off a strip by the actor (probably the same one from the first song). The latter roundly tells them that the whole point of Christmas isn’t what you get or believe, but in being kind to others and doing as you’d be done by, a good mantra for life as a whole. It’s a well-roasted chestnut, but, together with its companion pieces, you’d be well-pleased to find this in your stocking.
This is the perfect present, so why not get yourself a signed copy of the EP with a Christmas Card over on Charlie’s online store here: https://charliedoreontour.bigcartel.com/product/charlie-dore-the-man-who-built-christmas-ep
Charlie has some upcoming dates, including:
Dec 6 – Nettlebed Folk Club with Megan Henwood, Jackie Oates, Rowan Godel
Dec 8 – The Sound Lounge, Sutton
Dec 22 – The Electric Theatre, Guildford
Tickets via https://www.charliedore.com/