I’d never so much as heard of George Frakes until I stuck his CD in the player, but he has my attention now. From this well-dressed chap comes a sound worthy of Nick Drake or John Martyn. He picks beautiful, stirring songs out of his acoustic guitar, adding splashes of piano and strings where needed, and tops it off with a quietly powerful voice.
EP opener Two Black Eyes grabs you with the strength of its soaring chorus, while Rhythm and Blues is a more rumative number, that rises and falls while Frakes warns “You may find your rhythm, but you’ll never lose these blues” but still manages to make it sound sweet.
Title track Ghost of the Girl is a haunting lament for a lost love before Time takes a darker, more intimadating turn with its mournful percussion and menacing lyrics. From that dark tunnel, Sleep lifts you back out of the gloom with its smooth keyboards over a fast-flowing rhythm. It nicely rounds off an EP that announces Frakes as a strong new talent who should soar.
Ghost of the Girl is out now on NotPop/Dammit Music via http://www.reverbnation.com/georgefrakes