Pete WiseGiven their unwavering dedication to the promotion of their ‘quirky alternative rock’ music and their strong work ethic which has helped them to build up a considerable fan base over the past five years, its pretty difficult to avoid Hungry Ghosts, one of York’s biggest existing musical exports. This phantasmagorical foursome have got the practice of churning out chart-friendly rock that sounds a bit like a mixture of Muse’s pulsing bass and Kaiser Chiefs/Killers pop nouse down to a tee.
The end product is a very professional and streamlined sound that’s extremely radio-friendly. I think my favourite moments in Hungry Ghosts’ music are those in which spectral synths add an ambient flourish to proceedings and those in which frontman James Browne’s melodramatic vocal melodies stray pleasing close to sounding like something written by (sadly defunct) Leeds art-rockers ¡Forward, Russia!. Hungry Ghosts cut their teeth on Yorkshire’s clubscene playing in VIP rooms at venues such as The Gallery, and the impact of these formative club experiences is clearly discernable in their current output. Unpretentious and filled with four-to-the-floor rhythms, Hungry Ghosts’ songs utilize simplistic indie-rock structures and motifs which would appeal to a vast audience. They claim that they ‘are on stage to entertain and have fun’. If you’re the kind of person that goes to gigs to have a dance and be merry then it might be worth your while to give this band a listen. Hungry Ghosts headline The Duchess, York on Wednesday the 29th of February.
