Looking at the cover of Costeau's self-titled CD, one get a feeling of dark, bluesy, smoky kind of music with a mysterious French name to boot. It certainly caught my attention and from an initial "sampling" at the sound booth, the voice of the lead singer Liam McKahey sort of pours dark, sensuous, thick velvety hot chocolate over you.

The "brains" behind Cousteau though is Davey Ray Moor who wrote all the songs and did the vocals for "Mesmer" and "Shades of Ruinous Blue" (one of my personal favourites with piano and violin solos). If Liam McKahey is dark chocolate, then Davey Ray Moor is white chocolate ie a "lighter" version of Liam's vocals. The 5-member band started in London in 1998 with Liam McKahey hailing from Cork, Ireland and Davey Ray Moor born in Beirut but raised in Canberra, Australia. Just like their music, their accent has been slow but surely.

True to its cover, Cousteau does sing dark, bluesy, moody songs. One can't help but feels that the lead singer is giving you a "broody" look across a crowded bar as he croons the song when you listen to the CD. "The Last Good Day of The Year" is a gem and it was their first single. It starts off melancholically with acoustic guitars and horns reminiscent of Burt Bacharach heydays and slowly builds up to a chorus that punches through the melancholy and rises to something very uplifting.

They have released "She Don't Hear Your Prayer" and "Wish You Were Her" as follow-up singles which due to the brilliance of the first single, pales in comparison. Not that they are bad tunes but certainly the former is a stronger follow-up than the latter. The charm of "She Don't Hear Your Prayer" lies in the folksy harmonica solo and a rousing chorus. What would be great single to release though is "How Will I Know".
More true to their intended sound of a smouldering romantic.

Dark and moody have never been so good, thanks to Cousteau.