It’s easy to understand the appeal of singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne. A factory worker from Maine with a husky croon, sharp cheekbones and a come-hither beard, LaMontagne’s records are perfect fodder for the sort of people who’d like to fuck to Astral Weeks, but find the visual image of Van Morrison too off-putting. Gossip in the Grain, LaMontagne’s third album, is full of the mangled vocals and histrionic over-emoting that his fans have come to know and screw to. “You Are The Best Thing,” toys with Memphis soul, but sounds more Commitments than Otis Redding. The larky, White Stripes pastiche “Meg White” could’ve been a gas, but LaMontagne’s torrid vocals overplay the joke. (This is a man who couldn’t sing “When I’m Cleaning Windows” without causing 1,600 girls in New England to faint simultaneously.) Sexy for sure, but it’s not actually, you know, good.