Review / 200 Words Or Less
Tom Odell
Spending All My Christmas With You EP

Columbia (2016) Aideen

Tom Odell – Spending All My Christmas With You EP cover artwork
Tom Odell – Spending All My Christmas With You EP — Columbia, 2016

Tom Odell's an interesting prospect: The 26-year-old is an Ivor Novello and BRIT award winner with two albums to his name, who mixes piano-laden ballads with affecting pop melodies. His sound is the kind of music that Jools Holland would merrily tap his foot along to after he's three wines deep and yammering on about pianos, so a Tom Odell Christmas record was always inevitable.

On this EP we get two Christmas covers and an Odell-penned seasonal original recorded during BBC Live sessions, replete with soaring choirs and a taste of violin tremolo. We get the radio edit of Odell's latest single "Silhouette", a blustery piece of gamely pop, and a cover of The Beatles' "Real Love" which is already familiar to some as the soundtrack to 2014's John Lewis Christmas advert.

This EP is everything you expect: a masterful, but not particularly original, take on festive music. If you're a fan of Tom Odell you'll like it, if you're a fan of earnest Christmas music you'll like it, but you can't help but feel that it's all been done before. Spending All My Christmas With You is purely okay, offering a by-numbers take on tired Christmas tunes.

3.5 / 10Aideen • December 19, 2016

Tom Odell – Spending All My Christmas With You EP cover artwork
Tom Odell – Spending All My Christmas With You EP — Columbia, 2016

Advertisement

DCxPC 2025

Recently-posted album reviews

Detention

Dead Rock ‘N’ Rollers
Left For Dead Records (2024)

Life ain’t so easy in the detention home- Dead Boys. Emerging from the underbelly of Jersey, made up primarily of three brethren. Raised on rock and roll and sipping from the chalice of early punk rock stalwarts like Da Bruddahs from Queens, Hey Ho! and the Pistoleros of Sexual Nature screaming banshees from across from the large pond. Thus forging … Read more

Nightfreak

Nightfreak
Big Neck Records (2024)

Semi-feral punk outfit NightFreak are back with a self-titled LP filled with breakneck riffs and 70s metal bombast. The Chicago group haven’t slowed down since 2022’s Speed Trials but they have filled out. NightFreak the album is lousy with warm back beats and melodic guitars; although, hardcore vocals and tight drums still reign supreme. Album opener “Blackout” is dead serious … Read more

Death By Unga Bunga

Raw Muscle Power
Jansen Records (2025)

I’m pretty sure I became aware of Mike Krol when The Whiffs posted about playing some shows with him. Krol is a bit of an anomaly. Not only is he on Merge and collaborates with Mac Superchunk- a dream scenario imo- but he’s also been elusive of my fan boy attempts at cold dm’ing him about stuff even tho we … Read more