Bloomington producer Paul Mahern not only recorded and mixed much of Over the Rhine’s new holiday record Snow Angels, he also gave the band an ancient mantra that inspired the recording sessions: Sa Ta Na Ma, Wa He Gu Ru; or, Birth-Life-Death-Resurrection: Wow God.

Mahern works out of Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, and has produced records for John Mellencamp, Mysteries of Life and Lisa Germano, as well as several by Over the Rhine.

“Paul’s one of those people that walk into the room and the room changes,” says pianist Linford Detweiler, one-half of Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine, along with his wife, singer Karin Bergquist. “He became really serious about practicing Kundalini yoga when we recorded with him the first time on the record OHIO, getting up at 3 a.m. every morning to chant and do spiritual practice. He’s very spiritually curious and open.” Detweiler’s father was a Protestant minister, and while he maintains belief in aspects of Christianity, his faith “is in flux, and continuing to evolve,” incorporating the teachings of yogis via rock producers.

To help record the record, Mahern made his way to Linford and Karin’s new estate, Nowhere Farm, which consists of “a pre-Civil War farmhouse on a piece of land surrounded by open fields and meandering tree lines,” according to Detweiler. The couple had been working on holiday tunes for the past decade by the time Mahern showed up, doing annual holiday shows and tours since 1994, but they hadn’t put out a Christmas record since The Darkest Night of the Year in 1996. It took a lot of work to write and prepare these songs for the record, Detweiler says. “Every year we would write a song or two for our Christmas shows. We wanted to apply the same songwriting standards for this record that we apply to other records.” They recorded the holiday pieces they’d amassed over the years with a stripped down jazz combo: upright bass, set, Detweiler on piano and Berquist’s smoky vocals.

Influences for the record — including Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for the Peanuts Christmas specials, and classic holiday records by Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Mahalia Jackson — coalesce on the opening track “All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue,” voted one of the 100 Great Christmas Bummers by Entertainment Weekly. When he was writing the song, Detweiler says, “I kept looking over my shoulder to see if it had already been written.” While the title sounds similar to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” more relevant antecedents can be found in all the tearjerkers ever written about Christmas, like fellow Christmas bummers “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and Joni Mitchell’s “River.” The song isn’t derivative or maudlin though; it sounds instantly familiar, but gives enough spin on the tradition that it might just deserve to join the pantheon of non-traditional Christmas songs revisited every year.

Over the Rhine is playing the Music Mill as a six-piece, joined by multi-instrumentalist Brad Jones, Brad Patterson on strings, percussionist Mickey Grimm and Jake Bradley on bass and guitar. Expect about half of Snow Angels, as well as stuff from their 2007 non-holiday release The Trumpet Child, and a bass drum festooned with Christmas lights.