For their seventh album on Delphian, Patrick Allies and Siglo de Oro team up with the period instrumentalists of Spinacino Consort to bring back the old Christmas: twelve days of feasting, dancing and domestic music-making. Their vividly imagined programme recreates the sounds of seventeenth-century London, bringing together the carols, songs, dances and devotional music that might have accompanied every stage of the celebrations. Alongside beloved works by William Byrd and Thomas Ravenscroft are rare gems by Martin Peerson and Richard Smert, lively tunes from John Playford’s Dancing Master and traditional songs passed down through generations. From the intimate to the exuberant and outright bawdy, Hey for Christmas! captures the warmth, colour and irrepressible spirit of the festive season in early modern England.