Bright Eyes’s version of “Have Yourself” showcases everything that their Christmas album does so beautifully. It’s an emotionally deconstructed rendition of the classic Christmas tune but exposes that heart-wrenching quality that the original song concealed for so many years. Oberst and Taylor definitely recorded this in some heatless Nebraskan attic, bundled up in wool blankets around a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree look-alike. The use of strings, untampered, timid vocals, and slow, ambient instrumentation will make your Holiday season a little less merry and little more reflective. It doesn’t seem as though Christmas in 2002 was Bright Eyes’s most spirited and jolly holiday, but it definitely made for one of the most emotional and beautiful takes on otherwise overlooked Christmas carols. Go sit out in the should-be snowy weather, somewhere quiet, with a cup of hot cider and let Bright Eyes make your holiday a peaceful one.

★★★★★

*This review was composed by Cydney Hedgpeth