AMG Review of Sympatico

Matthew Greenwald
All Music Guide

Tom Freund is indeed one of the great singer-songwriters of the 1990's. He emerged in 1998 with an excellent debut album on Red Ant Records, North American Lost Weekend. That album presented his awesome talent to the world with clarity and a subtle vision. Freund's songs are loaded with a pragmatic vision and are sung in a distinct Tom Waits-influenced growl. Imitation, however, is not what Freund is about. This, his follow-up E.P. on his own label gives us a further and even more mature example of his vision. "Seat On A Train" and "Bombshell" are fantastic tracks, but Freund saves the best for last with "Simpatico," where he constructs a unique world, defines it, and then burns it to the ground. Truly unique and absolutely brilliant.