Lady Antebellum: On This Winter's Night – review

A Christmas album by America's unfathomably all-conquering Lady A? Why didn't they think of it before? In fact, they almost did – six of the 12 tracks have been recycled after first appearing on an EP in 2010, which spells out how much effort the country-pop trio have lavished on this project. That said, the group are masterly soft-pop harmonisers, and when the vocals are matched by a worthy arrangement, the result is highly palatable. The bright-and-breezy treatment of A Holly Jolly Christmas – Hilary Scott's lead vocal is complemented by lightly swinging strings and horns – is a pleasure; so is the sprightly, fiddle-filled Let It Snow! and the first two-thirds of The First Noel, before Scott's delicate interpretation is trampled by drippy violins. Conversely – and more typically – their unpacking of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You is a true why-oh-why moment: substituting gentled-down vagueness for Carey's divapocalyptic frenzy is sacrilege. The sole original is the title track, which condenses Lady A's inherent tepidness and sentimentality into three limp minutes.