New Christmas albums to get you in the holiday spirit

You here that? The faint sound of bells in the distance? Not yet? It’s out there. Just listen closer... closer... there! It’s the sound of Christmas music in the air!

Too soon?

As a lover of all things holiday-related, I must say as soon as that first snowflake hit the ground last weekend, I was ready to “Deck the Halls” and be “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” There’s something about Christmas music that just puts me in a good mood — I know many would argue it has the opposite effect on them — and the early snow gave me an excuse to start playing it a few weeks early.

But judging by the retail stores who are on the same page as me, it is never too soon to get in the holiday spirit. So here are two recently released Christmas albums that will be sure to get any Grinch or Scrooge in the holiday mood.

Michael Bublé — “Christmas”
You know Michael Bublé as the crooner of the 21st-century, combining a big-band instrumental feel with pop-like vocals. He’s perfected the style as his own, and he brings out the smooth vocals and finger-snapping rhythm in full form on his first full-length holiday album “Christmas.”

With a full array of horns on “Santa Clause Is Coming to Town,” or the jazz inspiration on “Jingle Bells,” to the beautiful string accompaniment on “Cold December Night” — a song in which Bublé penned himself — you won’t be let down.

For Bing Crosby fans out there looking for something a little new-age, Bublé is the perfect match taking on such classics as “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “Silent Night.”

Bublé’s “Christmas” is jam-packed with 16 songs — including a duet with Shania Twain on “White Christmas” — and it’s the perfect album to liven up a holiday gathering.

She & Him — “A Very She & Him Christmas”
On the softer side of things, She & Him strip down the holiday classics and make them their own for a perfect companion to a night next to the fireplace.

The duo, comprised of Matt Ward and bubbly actress Zooey Deschanel, really keep it low-key and simple, performing beautiful renditions of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Christmas Wish.” What works is that the instrumental backing provided by Ward doesn’t overpower the earthy vocals of Deschanel — they both take on a happy medium, and stay in sync with one another.

The only downfall with “A Very She & Him Christmas” is that it leaves you wanting more. The album, comprised of 12 tracks, only runs for 32 minutes. With that aside, it’s an album worth scooping up for the holidays, if only for the duo’s reinvention of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” in which Deschanel once perfected in the film “Elf” alongside Will Ferrell.