Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The reflection of Christmas present is all well and good, indeed much needed in our particular viewpoint of the age, but it also requires the muscle, to be more than decoration, it insists on power, the toned carving knife of time to truly take the much-anticipated roast apart and give the punch and he sauce which the festivity truly deserves.

If you want to bring the house down and have the chance to stop and reflect in one bountiful sitting, if the joint needs rockin’, then When Rivers Meet is the way to go, and in their double A Side single release of Christmas Is Here and It’s The Time Of Year, the two parts of the wishbone are pulled at the same time and the resulting wish is not only hoped for and shared, it is grasped and granted with ease as Grace and Aaron Bond nod to the command and release a stunning tub thumping song, coupled with a suitably subtle and ‘graceful’ song that acts as the perfect foil to the rousing caress that leads to the musical equivalent of finding mistletoe above your head when the partner of your dreams mutually agrees to passion undaunted.

The single is a perfect adaption of the moment, the boisterous and forceful and the laid-back vision, the taste of the pudding and the drift into reminisce as the dark day outside gives way to the hopeful abundance of illumination from the inside. 

Grace and Aaron have outdone themselves on this single, the full throttled release of rock, the simple yet sincere ballad accompaniment. This is the time when the wishbone is pulled and the listener receives with a smile, not a sign of a joke or novelty hat in attendance, this is the kind of Christmas songs that make the time a pleasure.

When Rivers Meet will tour the U.K. in April and May of 2023. Check the band’s website for details.

Ian D. Hall