Mononymous Canadian crooner Lewis' only known album, 1983's
L'Amour (which must certainly have been a cheeky reference to pulpy Western author
Louis L'Amour), is an atmospheric, introspective set of almost narcoleptic synth and acoustic pop ballads. Think a mumblecore take on
Bryan Ferry or
David Bowie singing on Ambien and you'll come close to the sound Lewis achieved on
L'Amour. This is chilly, synth-based music featuring long instrumental stretches, punctuated by Lewis' almost unintelligible if not unpleasant singing. Aesthetically, one might say that Lewis (who, according to Light in the Attic's research, may have actually been a stockbroker named Randall Wulff) seems inspired by such touchstones as
Low-era
David Bowie, late-'70s
Brian Eno, and the downtempo cabaret-pop of
Scott Walker (especially
the Walker Brothers' 1978 reunion album
Nite Flights), even if he never fully embraced the dissonant aspects of those artists. Similarly, though
L'Amour is probably too lo-fi and arch to have ever achieved much mainstream attention, the soft-focus, often electronic nature of much of Lewis' material wouldn't have sounded out of place next to such '80s new wave bands as
Japan,
Human League, and
ABC. Ultimately, while Lewis himself remains an enigma, the music on
L'Amour offers us a fascinating glimpse of a long-forgotten Canadian pop auteur. ~ Matt Collar