Brother Oliver, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Post Author: Elizabeth Schneider

The Greenville, SC duo Brother Oliver, made up of brothers Andrew Oliver and Stephen Oliver, have released a new rendition of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” just in time for Christmas, 2016.

“The original song ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ has always caught my ear with its haunting, almost middle-eastern sounding melodies,” the duo elaborates. “It has an ancient feel that stands alone in the world of happy-go-lucky Christmas music. We wanted to take that from the song and modernize it in a way that you can snap your fingers to, while still preserving the sort of hypnotic beauty in the subject matter.”

Although the traditional version has a haunting tune written in a minor key, Brother Oliver has put a folk twist on the original.  The song perceives less like a dirge and more like the rejoicing hymn that it was probably meant to be.  Brother Oliver has captured the real meaning of the song and it promises to become a regular on your holiday playlist.

Keep up with Brother Oliver here.