Release Date: 28/11/25
OVERVIEW: There aren't a lot of Christmas songs that include Persian Târ, twelve-string guitar, tanpura, and sitar, but Bhopal's Flowers Christmas song 'Incense, Myrrh & Gold' has all of them. Despite their Indian-sounding name, Bhopal’s Flowers are from Montreal, Canada. Since 2018, they have released three well-received albums and one single on labels like Sound Effects and Hypnotic Bridge. In their music, Bhopal’s Flowers—the brainchild of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Lionel Pezzano—mix a wide array of influences, including psychedelic rock, sunshine pop, French pop, and Hindustani and Middle Eastern sounds. 'Incense, Myrrh & Gold' is a catchy song about the Magi who came from the East to bring presents to the newborn King.
The B-side features Bhopal’s Flowers' cover of one of the most recorded Christmas songs ever, taking it to places it has never been before. Imagine if the Beatles had decided to record 'Jingle Bells' at the end of a long recording session for their classic album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with Ravi Shankar present to play a sitar solo. Give Bhopal's Flower's rendition of 'Jingle Bells' a listen and you'll have a good sense of how that might have sounded. The single comes packaged in a stylish, 1970s-inspired sleeve on snow-white bio vinyl, limited to 280 copies.