This may not be the weirdest Christmas album ever recorded but it most certainly ranks among the most radical ones. You'll find renditions of popular favourites like "Silent Night", and "In Dulci Jubilo" here. But the Oddgeir Berg Trio are performing them with such passionate reticence that they at times sound like "doom jazz" bands like Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Christmas does seem to be a bit darker in Norway.

The production creates the sonic twilight zone between night and day that they've by now established as their trademark. Which turns this into more than a collection of carols: 'Christmas Came Early' is like a little present you give yourself - no matter the season or occasion.