Hungry Ghosts are very Hong Kong. It’s apparent on a superficial level, of course, with their Chinese festival-referencing (and covertly, apparently, Wolf Parade-referencing) moniker. But for this multinational group of long-time Hongkongers, it goes a little deeper, very much reflected in the way the four-piece have approached the city’s local independent music scene. “We live in a great city and we have a lot of really genuine music being created here that is truly independent,” says drummer Mike Jack.

Hungry Ghosts should know. After all, Jack, Luke Chow, Tiff Laue and Paul Lam have been a constant presence in the live scene since 2007, embedding themselves with the kind of anthemic, melody-driven indie rock that brings people to the dancefloor. This fortnight, almost five years into the HG journey, they follow up their debut 2009 EP with the aptly named EP2 – a release they feel reflects how they’ve developed over the years.

“EP2 has developed us as a band,” says frontman Chow. “Our sound is evolving because we trust and understand each other’s strengths and roles better, and we play to them when songwriting. Crafting a well written song, irrespective of genre, is an extremely hard feat and getting everyone to mutually agree all comes with experience, so that’s how our sound is evolving.”

Most people would probably associate Hungry Ghosts with frenetic and fun live shows more than finely crafted tunes. But, with this EP, they’ve brought a much more honed and detailed production to their songs, as well as an expanding palette of sounds. “The songs are a diverse mix of indie-rock to post-rock,” says Chow. “We always try and push melodies as hard as we can, whether it is through vocals or guitar lines. We have been consciously trying to up our vocal harmonies. It’s great now everyone is singing more live.”

In the past couple of years, the members of Hungry Ghosts have also embarked on their own solo projects, which the band thinks has also helped it mature. “Tiff’s solo project has definitely benefitted the Ghosts, Mike playing in more bands keeps him in shape and Paul’s DJ background always presents us with new soundscape,” says Chow, who himself took his acoustic solo project around Asia and the USA last year. At the same time, however, he thinks it also gives the Hungry Ghosts sound its own recognisable flavour. “Through members doing their own projects, it helps keep Hungry Ghosts focused on what we’re good at, instead of trying to accommodate everyone’s own tastes and interests.”

There might be a slightly more crafted, thought-out approach to their songwriting. But the band are by no means abandoning the energetic and raw live elements that have helped establish them in the city. That philosophy remains – indeed, perhaps, stronger than ever. “When it comes to our live shows, we really want people to have fun and we try not to take ourselves too seriously... we want to entertain!” says Jack. “Playing live music is entertainment and we want to deliver fun but at the same time deliver energetic sets that sound tight and musical. Generally our sets have two faces – the fun pocket songs and the technically more challenging songs that take time to know.” Keeping them hungry for more, perhaps…

Mark Tjhung 

Hungry Ghosts launch EP2 at Backstage on February 4.