There's the smell of mulled wine in the air, hundreds of people muffled up against the December night, the finest Folk choir in the country harmonising beautifully, there are sparkles and woolly hats and an expectant hum that there will be magic again.

 

It can only be the Downend Folk & Roots Christmas shindig. The best way to usher in the festivities imaginable.

 

 

As is now traditional, HEARTWOOD CHORUS start things off. Thirty-two voices in perfect harmony, gently tearing the wrapping paper from a longed-for gift. The Wexford Carol ebbs and flows, layers upon layers as voices surge, exultant, towards the heavens. Homeless Wassail may not be traditional but its message is clear, a simple wish for some dinner, a bed and a warming fire. The contrast in the voices always stunning, subtle variations that throw fireside colours across Christ Church Downend.

 

Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane's The Sun Also Rises is simply exquisite. Those voices rise to meet the sun, rise to meet the moon, they are as warm, as welcoming, as the winter sun on your face. Finally, Three Harks is a familiar carol with an unfamiliar tune but is wholly glorious. If only every choir could sound like this one, worship would be an entirely different thing.

 

 

A WINTER UNION have been over this way before, bringing their celebration of wintertime to Downend in 2021, they are warmly welcomed back. They are made up of Ben Savage, Hannah Sanders, Jade Rhiannon, Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts, each one an incredible musician in their own right, each with their own voice, their own song to sing.

 

The songs are, obviously, mighty festive. They open with Ding Dong Merrily on High, Sanders and Rhiannon angelic together as the guitars of Savage and Roberts chime. Katriona Gilmore's violin is simply glorious. It's all heavenly sky, bright, stirring and golden. It is the sound of sweet fresh air. The Holly and the Ivy is country tinged, Rhiannon singing, Sanders and Gilmore harmonising, a dulcimer reflecting back the light as if so many mirrors had been scattered there.

 

There are wassails and cover versions. The Band and Townes Van Zanndt are dutifully paid homage, trees are praised, cider discussed, Sanders bends the knee to Joni Mitchell’s The River and Roberts gets all angry and socialist on Robb Johnson’s Boxing Day.

 

 

It is, however, the original songs that are most affecting. Gilmore’s Every Midnight Mile is the Christmas song that should issue from every radio in the land. Forget Carey, forget Rea, this is the one that offers hope and love, offers peace and redemption. If her violin is extraordinary (and it always is), then her voice is even better. It’s comforting and welcoming, as sleepy as it is wide-eyed. It is the voice of a Christmas Eve fireside. With the dobro of Savage and Gilmore's mandolin, it is a refuge in the darkness. 

 

Ben Savage shows his gleeful, childish side on A White Christmas Somewhere, where a small child wishes for snow everywhere, all winter long. His dobro gives a winter-y tale country tassels, Rhiannon's voice a fuzzy, velvety blur. Mandolin and bells the sleigh-bound tinkles that Savage’s inner-child is so desperate for.

 

It is, once again, Katriona Gilmore that squeezes the heart on Raise a Candle. Her song reminds us that Christmas can be a tough time, that some of us struggle. She also, crucially, reminds us that we are not alone. The swoon of the female voices is wonderful, utterly transporting. If this is the loneliness of Christmas then it is hard not to embrace it, not to fall in love with the gentle contemplation. As the friends gather around a single microphone so the wintertime despair disappears.

 

All that is left is a storming Jethro Tull cover and a beautiful counting song. By the end Downend is giddy - too many sherries, too much egg-nog - and Sanders thinks that if you can't count along then you shouldn't drive. She's probably right, but by the end the end the whole of the audience is so full of the Christmas spirit, so infused with yuletide joy, that walking on the air is the only sensible option anyway.