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Aly & AJ reside in a genre similar to Demon Hunter, Relient K, and Skillet. Most Christian music stores feature Aly & AJ, and their songs frequently appear on most mainstream Christian radio stations. Their song “Never Far Behind” appeared only on Christian Rock Radio and quickly ascended to #1 on Radio & Records. Music companies do not officially label Aly & AJ as a “Christian Band” simply because they requested not to have that label. Although they openly express their Christian faith, and every song shows this faith, they want to reach a broader audience instead of “preaching to the choir.” They feel that, if they do not restrict themselves with a Christian label, even secular radio stations will play their Christian music. Recalling to mind the famous quote, “No matter what the label; the nature never changes,” I realized that no matter how the media defines them, they are, at heart, a Christian group.

Recently, they released a Christmas album titled Acoustic Hearts of Winter. Before listening to this CD, the very idea of Christmas music made me cringe as every station on the radio played this music, with generic background music, non-stop from Thanksgiving to Christmas. However, this album breaks the chains off generic Christmas music which is normally sung in a low, [overly] jolly voice, with generic background music, incapable of inspiring a simple description but easily distinguishable. Acoustic Hearts of Winter completely disregards the generic idea of trumpets and horns which can be heard in nearly every mainstream Christmas song. Instead, Acoustic Hearts of Winter employs a soft mix of percussion, acoustic guitar, cello, piano, and bells as a background for near angelic vocals.

Acoustic Hearts of Winter begins and ends with songs personally written by Aly & AJ. The first proves to be a very unique song, both when compared to the rest of the album and when compared to most mainstream Christmas music. Unlike the rest of the album, the first track has a pop/rock-ish tune instead of the gentle tone of the rest of the songs. Such a tone creates a very joyous setting for the rest of the album. The first track speaks about what they find special about the holiday season.

Unlike a lot of artists creating mainstream Christmas music, they place a great emphasis on the importance of family, saying that they mostly like just spending time with their family: “When everyone is filled with love and cheer 'cause that's what matters...With everybody here, friends so dear; let me simply state it joy to the world and everyone; lift up your hearts and feel the love; it's our favourite way, to spend the holiday.” Traditional Christmas songs, such as Joy to the World, We Three Kings, Silent Night, and many others make up the bulk of the album. One of the most remarkable features of the album comes from the fact that they never mention Santa Claus or any of his affiliates. The album ends with the second song written by Aly & AJ called Not This Year. This song serves as an alter ego to the first song Greatest Time of Year. The first expresses joy in the holiday season and has a happy, dance-able tune, while Not This Year has a sadder tone expressing the sorrow of a not-so-wonderful Christmas. 

Overall, the main portion of the album serves as an excellent replacement to traditional Christmas music and has a tone suitable for background dinner of general conversational music. They manage to find a tone that does not bore, and is not too loud for background music. I would easily consider this the best Christmas album that I have heard in my life. I give Acoustic Hearts of Winter a 9.93 out of 10.00 rating.

 

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