The holidays are about giving. Giving time, giving attention—giving anything you’ve got, really. In that spirit, Nina fav F.G.S. gives us a neatly wrapped version of the Dolly Parton classic “Hard Candy Christmas,” which is a Nina exclusive for this holiday season.

The opening chords of the song remind me of the Mario Paint background music, doing that thing where a chord has one or two extra notes that grab you provocatively. The tasteful-cheesy MIDI landscape is quickly occupied by a breathy vocal. Silva’s performance is closer and more intimately delivered than Dolly’s grand version. Dolly belts from the stage, Flannery sings to you over the land line. It’s like Pavement channeling Stevie Nicks late night at the karaoke station in the corner of the Office Christmas Party. You don’t recognize most of the people left, you don’t need another drink, but you definitely can’t leave until this song is over.

Considering the name of Silva’s self-run imprint is Hard Candy Xmas, it’s a fitting cover. The release also comes with an alternate “Nokia Version” of the track that pushes the fidelity down even further to tinny cell phone majesty. For those in New York City, F.G.S. performs live on January 7 at Union Pool with Marlon DuBois and Patch+.

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