Annie Lennox Marches Towards Salvation with New Christmas Album

From Bob Dylan to Sufjan Stevens, it seems as though everyone’s taking a crack at Christmas these days. Now Annie Lennox is getting in on the festivities, with her first-ever holiday album, A Christmas Cornucopia, out November 16 via Decca.

Of course, the former Eurythmics vocalist isn’t one to rely on chintzy arrangements of holiday standards, instead offering an eclectic take on carols from the German, French, and British traditions. Songs include the dark lullaby “Lullay Lullay”, which alludes to the killing of the first-born children by King Herod, as well as her stunning reinterpretation of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, which essentially becomes a tribal march.

The newly released music video for “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is equally inventive, incorporating elements of the pagan British Christmas to create a somewhat disturbing/oddly psychedelic effect.

Being the good soul that she is, all proceeds from the Lennox-penned “Universal Child” will go towards the SING campaign, her humanitarian organization founded to raise awareness and support for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.