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Our Review

Peter Janson's Winter Gifts: Seven Songs for the Season is probably the first CD I should have listened to this morning. It's meandering, contemplative fingerstyle guitar arrangements are perfect for waking up to. Or, for that matter, for nodding off to sleep with.

Winter Gifts is a set of seven original solo acoustic guitar pieces that should appeal to a wide variety of new age and acoustic listeners. It would be difficult to choose any one piece that I liked above the others, because they are integral, and one seques into the next with barely a gap, either physical or thematic. This is music to put on the iPod for a contemplative walk in the country. It works for a romantic evening spent with that special someone, or for an evening alone solving crossword puzzles. Pensive, but never too tense, sweet, but not pure cane sugar, Janson's arrangements suit a variety of purposes.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2007)

Our Review

When I first picked up Peter Janson's Winter Gifts: Seven Songs for the Season, my first thought was that the album in fact contains eight, not seven, tracks. Looking more closely, I discovered that one much-loved holiday favorite, Greensleeves, appears twice--as bookends, providing the first and last (unaltered mix) tracks. As the release opens, the altered mix includes the crackling of an old phonograph record for the first and last dozen bars or so, as though you are listening to a dusty vinyl LP pulled from the back of your closet. This attempt to capture both old and new is reflected throughout the album; Janson's instrumental guitar paints an introspective mood that is timeless.

The introspective feel of Winter Gifts derives perhaps in part from Janson's Native American heritage (he is a descendant of the Micmac tribe). He weaves heartfelt musical stories, creating a sense of ancient spirituality. That is, I suppose, what many new age presentations are attempting to achieve, and Janson manages that very nicely here. His fingerplucking is precise, yet passionate, and the overall impact is richly contemplative. Snowflake is the only track that adds a second musician to the scene; Eric Conn's tremolo mandolin-strumming adds a brighter, lighter dimension. My favorite track is also the longest (over eight minutes); on Waiting for Winter, Janson has layered five guitars into a fabulous acoustic cake, and the sweet tones washed over me long after the album ended.

Peter Janson's Winter Gifts paints from an undeniably beautiful, but largely melancholy, palette of colors for the holiday season. This is mood music that provokes thoughtful meditation and nostalgic introspection. Lovely!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

Peter Janson - acoustic guiter
Eric Conn - mandolin on Snowflake
produced by Peter Janson
executive producer - Eric Conn
recorded and mixed by Brandon Bell at Minutia, Nashville TN
Mastered by Eric Conn and Don Cobb at Independent Mastering, Nashville TN
Original artwork by Bernadette Levasseur

Peter Janson

Winter Gifts,
Seven Songs for the Season

Artist link

Track List