Album: Scala & Kolacny, Brothers December ([PIAS])

Like Tracey Thorn, the Kolacny Brothers have searched in unexpected corners to unearth seasonal material for their Belgian women's choir Scala.

Who knew, for instance, that Linkin Park's repertoire contained a song as graceful as "My December"? It's the arrangements that make the difference, applied to the delicate melodicism of Sufjan Stevens' "It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad". But some gambits flop badly: Prince's "When Doves Cry" just sounds sombrely repetitive as a choral arrangement, while Coldplay's "Christmas Lights" remains as flaccid as ever.

Download: My December; Christmas Must Be Tonight; It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad