FREDERIC GARY
COMEAU Hungry Ghosts
(Audiogramme) Rating: NNN
Rating: NNN
Montreal crooner Frederic Gary Comeau shares more than just a hometown with missing-in-action singer Lhasa. Producer/multi-instrumentalist Yves Desrosiers, who collaborated on Lhasa’s excellent La Llrona disc, plays a crucial role on Hungry Ghosts. While Comeau murmurs obliquely about abandonment, heartbreak and drinking, Desrosiers wraps the skeletal tunes in moody soundscapes, switching between 10 different instruments. Comeau does have an unusual burr of a voice, but the constantly changing surroundings aren’t enough to distract you from the fact that underneath it all there aren’t really any songs, and Comeau’s lyrics often border on clichés. His producer should get top billing.
