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Sixpence None the Richer takes their rightful place alongside The Shins for easy listening indie pop with this must-have seasonal release The Dawn of Grace. Overshadowing everything I've heard to this point in the young season, this eminently loveable release is anchored by the huggable vocals of spritely Leigh Nash, who glides through this 10-song set of infectious pop arrangements like an elfen princess. I'm a sucker for Nash's white shoes brand of indie pop, so maybe she would have had me at "hello", regardless. But the product is very high-quality, and I don't see how it can help but earn high praise from the earnest and the ironic alike.

With brilliant new arrangements of traditionals (such as the wonderful Riu, Riu, Chiu!) and ambitious interpretations of pop standards (Joni Mitchell's dark classic River, for example, which is almost a bridge too far for the chipper Ms. Nash), The Dawn of Grace would already have enough fire power to blow most other new releases off the scene. But Sixpence NTR takes it a step further by including two (apparently--my advance copy does not offer much in the way of liner notes) new songs, The Last Christmas Without You and Christmas for Two, either one of which could easily show up when the credits roll on the Christmas episode of Friday Night Lights or even Ugly Betty.

Scheduled for release in mid-October, The Dawn of Grace has already set the standard for 2008 pop Christmas music.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2008)

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Sixpence None the Richer

The Dawn of Grace,
A Collection of Original and Traditional Christmas Songs

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Track List