The song “Carol of the Bells,” with its elaborate musical progression, opens up a lot of options for arrangement.  As such, while I love The Bird and the Bee’s version a lot, this year Pentatonix has released a version I also very much enjoy.

The a capella group first came to prominence on the third season of “The Sing-Off,” a show on NBC that was cancelled well before its time.  The musicianship of the quintet is incredible, and it’s a perfect mix of voices together. They released a Christmas EP this year.

The centerpiece of the EP is “Carol of the Bells,” which is an enjoyable version of the song with a nice lead-in arrangement of the vocals.

Additional listening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eUsGM13ZV8

Here’s their rendition of “This Christmas,” which is so full of warmth; their harmonies really make songs like this pop.

For some non-holiday fun, check out this medley of N’Sync songs recently released on their YouTube channel…

As well as their version of Nicki Minaj’s “Starships.”