Among millennials, Taylor Momsen is likely to be primarily remembered as an actor of things relatively sweet and family friendly. She appeared in Spy Kids 2 and TV’s Gossip Girl, but most notably as Cindy Lou Who with Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the turn of the century.
Since then, of course, she’s reinvented herself as the post-grunge front woman of the very successful Pretty Reckless. As a rock’n’roller, she may like people to believe that she’s something of a replacement Courtney Love but actually she really inhabits Avril Lavigne-like territory. Still, she’s not irritatingly putting it on and frequently brings a wry sense of humour to the band’s slightly gritty but chart-friendly alt rock sounds.
The Pretty Reckless first Christmas outing, however, mixes her first career with her musical present, and “Where are you Christmas?” (a song she sang in How the Grinch Stole Christmas) is reimagined as a rock anthem.
Obviously, no-one’s suggesting that Momsen is trying to drag her past into the land of extreme Black Metal but, while she and her record company clearly have a sharp eye on the money, it does manage to more than hold its own – with rousing guitar riffage and a lively rhythm section that attempts to drag Santa Claus into the mosh pit without getting all po-faced.
Elsewhere, “Christmas is Killing Me” maintains the spirited rocking sounds, while “I Wanna be Your Christmas Tree” is like a flirtatious doo-wop showtune. “Blues on Christmas” is nicely mellow and smoky before Momsen finally revisits “Where are you Christmas?” as a piano ballad. In fact, the whole album is quite nostalgic and somewhat charming - and should be more than sufficient to satisfy fans of rock’n’roll, the Grinch and festive music generally this winter, as the temperature drops and we’re all a bit more forgiving about the cheesiness of the music that gets played to us.
