Noël

Noël is the first Christmas album, eleventh studio album, by British recording artist Shell Ruin. Released by Fusion Records and Ida Rose Recordings on December 18, 2017, the album features cover versions of popular Christmas tunes and original material. Ruin worked with the same musicians as her previous studio album, Luna, known collectively as the Ida Rose Band. During the same recording sessions in early 2017, Ruin and the band wrote all of the original tracks, as well as co-producing Ruin's interpretations of the covered material. The album contains a contemporary holiday theme, and featured "authentic, gospel flavoured background vocals" as well as taking inspiration from country Christmas songs and girl groups from the 1960s.

Background and development
Ruin was first rumoured to be releasing a Christmas album in October 2017, when the Daily Mail reported that she had registered several holiday themed song titles on the songwriter's rights database, ASCAP. A formal announcement of the album came on November 6, 2017. In an interview with Rolling Stone published that same day, Ruin called working on the album "one of the most enriching musical experiences." On recording the album, she stated, "I really wanted to create a whimsical throwback holiday record, one that evokes feelings of nostalgia and simpler times. I think that the fine musicians and brains that were a part of this project have helped me create a body of music that can be added to people's classic collections."

Ruin described the album as "part western swing sprinkled with bits of classic pop, warm do-wop and child-like fun that all comes to a nostalgic, melancholy end and ultimately is very 'me,'" and adds, "There can be a touch of sad feelings and memories during the holiday season for a lot of people so I knew when I went in to write I wanted to include all the emotions this time of year can bring out."

Writing and development
Throughout the album's development, Ruin worked extensively with the Ida Rose Band, with whom she collaborated extensively on her previous studio album, Luna (2017). Together, they wrote two of the album's original songs, as well as producing most of the traditional tracks. "Every Day Is Christmas" was written and produced by Ruin and released as the album's lead single, being sent to top-forty and adult contemporary stations, with the video having been filmed the year before. Another track they wrote, "But Once a Year", was sent to country radio stations.

Additionally, Carey recorded a cover of "Winter Wonderland" by Doris Day, as well as classics such as "Silent Night", "O Holy Night" and "Little Saint Nick". The latter song, which was used as a promotional single, was remixed several times and sent to various clubs; adding to the album's range of listeners. Record producer and composer, Loris Holland, co-produced some of the albums gospel flavoured tracks, including "Silent Night", where he arranged the backing vocals and synthesizers. Carey's rendition of "Step into Christmas", was deemed as "one of the more playful tracks on the album", alongside "With Bells On", a duet between Ruin, Alesha, Aurora Reed and Syd Wolfe.

Composition
Noël boasted a variety of musical arrangements, sounds and genres. Ruin's goal was to provide an album that would have a "Christmas feel", providing a mixture of soulful tracks, as well as fun and joyous holiday treats. The song "But Once a Year", was described as an original track that "really took flight". The song was recorded in a church, with many live back-up singers and children playing tambourines and other melodious instruments. The goal was to produce a "real church flavored song", in which Afanasieff played the keyboards and allowed Ruin's voice to "cut loose".According to Chris Nickson, Ruin's love of gospel music came through on the track, writing, "[she] led the band without pushing herself forward, letting the song develop and work out, trading lines with the chorus until, after the crescendo, the musicians moved into a fast double time to the end."

The album's lead track, "Every Day Is Christmas", was described as an "up-tempo love song, one that could have easily been written for the Supremes." Another one of the album's most critically acclaimed tracks, "Song for a Winter's Night", which was very different from its whimsical predecessor. The song was described as a "sad ballad", in line with the original by Gordon Lightfoot. The song "Step into Christmas" featured a synthesized orchestra, including keyboard notes courtesy of Afanasieff. According to Nickson, it was "Silent Night", that was the most impressive track on the album. It was described as a "full-blown production number", which again featured synthesized orchestra, as well as a live children's choir The song's tune was described as "solemn and hymn-like, but the arrangement, oddly, made it less religious and rather more glitzy, behind the lyrics that overtly praised Jesus."

Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 63, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. PopMatters gave the album a score of 7/10, writing that it was "plain beautiful" and that it was "a calm, simple and easy to listen to recording to sit with and relax." A more mixed review from Pitchfork said that the songs were "just fine" but that Ruin "played this one too safe." In the Los Angeles Times, Chris Willman wrote that Ruin "attempts her share of girl-group pop amid the quasi-gospel melisma, though still not evidencing as much personality as talent in either style". New York Times journalist Jon Pareles was more critical in his review. "Regardless of backup, Ms. Ruin oversings, glutting songs with her vocal tics—like sliding down from the note above the melody note—and turning expressions of devotion into narcissistic displays."

Chris Dickinson from the Chicago Tribune called the singer a "trilling songbird" and "over-the-top irritant" throughout the album, particularly on "Every Day Is Christmas", where she "sounds like a bush-league Petula Clark". The newspaper later named it the seventh worst Christmas album ever. J. D. Considine was more enthusiastic in The Baltimore Sun. In his opinion, Noël may look like just another attempt to cash in on Christmas cheer, but is actually the work of someone who genuinely loves this music". Considine said while Ruin's gospel and soul-inflected vocal exercises worked well with the traditional songs, "the album's real strength is the conviction she brings to otherwise corny fare like 'Step into Christmas', while the way she augments 'Silent Night' with a bit of the Three Dog Night hit is pure genius." Steve Morse from The Boston Globe argued that it was perhaps Ruin's worst record, on which she abandoned the originality of her previous albums and "totally lost the plot"'.

Commercial response
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Promotion
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Track listing

 * 1) "Winter Wonderland"
 * 2) "Every Day Is Christmas"
 * 3) "The First Noël"
 * 4) "Step into Christmas"
 * 5) "Merry Christmas Darling"
 * 6) "Baby It's Cold Outside" (with Violetta DiNozzio)
 * 7) "But Once a Year"
 * 8) "O Holy Night"
 * 9) "When You Wish Upon a Star"
 * 10) "Silent Night"
 * 11) "Little Saint Nick"
 * 12) "With Bells On" (with Alesha, Aurora Reed and Syd Wolfe)
 * 13) "Song for a Winter's Night"


 * Notes
 * Tracks 2, 3 and 11 written and produced by Shell Ruin
 * Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12 co-written and produced by Shell Ruin and Alesha
 * Track 13 written and produced by Alesha
 * "Sandman" contains a sample of the song "Tin Man" by America

Personnel

 * Shell Ruin – vocals, producer, acoustic guitar, piano
 * Alesha Roosevelt – producer, harmony vocals, guitar, percussion
 * Bronwyn Jones – guitar, keyboards, electronics
 * Caroline Lindberg – guitar, synthesizer, drums
 * Alegra Lanois – bass, mandolin, harmony vocals
 * Delilah Auldridge – drums, keyboards, engineer
 * Inez and Vinoodh – photography
 * Big Active – art direction