''In a Winter Light'' is the third studio album by English comedian and actor

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter, singer and farmer. He is the host of the BBC One game show ''Pointless'', and is a weekday morning-show presenter on C ...

. It was released on 24 November 2017 as Armstrong's first Christmas album, and was recorded with the City of Prague Orchestra, Choir of New College Oxford, RAF Squadronaires Big Band and

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

. It peaked at number 24 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, achieving less commercial success than his first two albums. ''In a Winter Light'' contains two compositions written by Armstrong himself, "I Still Believe In Christmas" and "This Glorious Morrow".

Track listing

Critical reception

''In a Winter Light'' was met with mainly positive reviews from the professional arts journalism website

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...

, who called it "a pleasantly traditional affair". They said, "Unfortunately, Armstrong's

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

is not suited to everything. Take "White Winter Hymnal" by

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes are an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band currently consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backin ...

. The original was an ethereal piece of folk-rock. This choral version is so mannered it's almost like an

Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller are an English comedy double act consisting of the actor-comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. They have performed in two eponymous television sketch shows, the satirical ''Timeghost'' podcast, and many individu ...

comedy sketch."

Charts

References

{{Authority control Alexander Armstrong albums 2017 albums Rhino Entertainment albums