Mark Kozelek puts together some beautiful moments on this album but ultimately, as an album it's a total slog. Some of the fingerpicking sounds lovely with Mark's haunting vocals but he doesn't really bring anything new to these songs. But at least when corporate pop megastars needlessly and lazily reimagine christmas songs, they make it fun. Sings Christmas Carols is so fucking boring! I think Mark Kozelek's greatest quality as a musician is his rambly songwriting and he's stripped that away ... read more
What a bad move for one of my favorite musicians. Christmas albums are played out, uninspired concepts and this is no exception. Nothing touches Sufjan's Xmas albums, and there is certainly no need to try. Take note of that future musicians who want to drop holiday cash-cows.