REVIEW: Ricky Comeaux — Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman (SINGLE)
Intoxicatingly alluring. Devastatingly melodic. Seemingly soft but inevitably venomous and cold. There are a lot of emotional and literal dimensions within which one can perceive the narrative in Ricky Comeaux’s “Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman,” but from where I sit, it’s best to sit back and let the song introduce its premise through the chapter-by-chapter unfolding of progressive verses in real-time as opposed to assigning it a specific character after the first few bars. It’s easy to see why Comeaux would be branded as somewhat avant-gardist by some critics when listening to this single, but at the same time, I don’t think it would be very fair to describe his work as being so out of reach from the mainstream listener that melodies like those in this song wouldn’t be able to connect with audiences who don’t spend all of their time listening to college radio and reading indie zines online. “Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman” is, much like its name, gloriously indulgent and a stark difference from the mainstream beat that you’re going to notice the moment you encounter it for the very first time, and if it’s a fair sampling of who this artist is, you can put me down for more.
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I love the groove’s evolution in this single, and were it not given as much attention as the lyrics themselves are, I don’t think either would be as effective as both end up being by the time the song has come to a conclusion. Comeaux’s approach to his lead vocal is almost operatic, but somehow, someway, it doesn’t feel like too much of a good thing when we fall head-first into the climax of the track halfway through “Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
This song has a terrific flow for how complicated most of its transitions are, and although it runs just over two and a half minutes in total length, it feels a lot more thorough and substance-packed than that number might suggest it would on paper. For listeners who are in the mood for something that defies the model for what a song of its kind is supposed to be in 2020, there’s an argument to be made that you’re going to do much better in Comeaux’s scene than this track right here.
Designed for the contemporary audiophile but accessible to all who like melodic, vocal-powered compositions, Ricky Comeaux’s “Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman” is one of the best songs included on the new album If I Ruled the World and certainly a seriously powerful spin if you’re getting a little more than sick of the quarantine pop debuting all around the world in the past eight months. All in all, 2020 has been a pretty awesome year if you love experimentalism as much as I do, and if there’s an artist who can help you to grasp why, it’s this guy. He still has a lot of growth between him and a Grammy, but in “Theme from Kiss of the Spider Woman” he takes the first step in what could become a very rewarding journey.
Colin Jordan
