**** 1/2 (out of 5)

Written by Linnie Green

Don’t expect any tacky tinsel excess on Keegan DeWitt’s Christmas Eve EP, a collaboration with Roman Candle, Madi Diaz, and Caitlin Rose.

Unlike the seasonal tunes blaring down the aisles at Harris Teeter, DeWitt’s latest shuns the ostentation of most holiday songs, packing four wintry gems onto an album powerful and sincere enough to bring Christmas Eve butterflies to every indie fan’s jaded stomach.

These Christmas tunes gain their impact through their earnestness. While it’s far from brooding, the album achieves the levity only Christmas songs can provide without sacrificing depth or honesty. Where other artists slather on sugary sentimentality, DeWitt and his crew of homegrown musicians rely on simplicity. On “Christmas Eve,” DeWitt’s lovelorn musings on the season shine without the usual bells and whistles, resting instead on his cozy vocals and guitar strums.

The highlight of the album pairs DeWitt with Roman Candle on “It’s Christmas,” an ode to the quirks and charm the holiday has come to embody. “Here comes my neighbor/He’s been out working/Gives me the finger as he smiles hello,” DeWitt and Skip Matheny sing. The duo’s voices blend as effortlessly as eggnog and brandy, and the song’s quotidian subject matter is infinitely more engaging than a Rudolph- or Santa-themed jingle.

It might help if you’re a sucker for Christmas, but on the Christmas Eve EP, it’s difficult not to find this pared-down set of originals to be the perfect antidote for all the Black Friday doom and gloom.

It may not convert true Scrooges to holiday cheer, but if DeWitt and company have any say in the matter, even those of us who won’t be waiting up for Santa can partake in a little merriment this winter.