It’s been a while since we heard from Glasgow’s Steve Grozier, an artist and songwriter who Blabber’n’Smoke, along with several other websites and publications have lauded for his reflective songs which, as he says are “about the darker aspects of life.” He returns to the fray with this four song EP, surprisingly, a collection of previously released songs but recorded in a stripped back fashion live in Glasgow’s La Chunky Studios with Johnny Smillie at the recording helm.
If you’ve seen Grozier live then you might know what to expect here. His guitar is almost caressed, tenderly picked and played, as his lonesome voice delivers the oh so lonesome lyrics. There are three songs gathered from his album All That’s Been Lost along with a revisit to his E.P. Take My Leave. Stripped of their previous robes (which included Neil Young & Crazy Horse like country grunge and sweet water pedal steel rock) these songs find Grozier in a much more confident solo stance than he was when we last encountered him on stage pre pandemic. He must have been practicing.
Power In The Light, according to Grozier his most popular song on Spotify, ditches the sweeping strings and muscular guitar solos from the album version and arrives here in, strangely enough, a more redemptive fashion. Whereas the original had an inherent sense of helplessness woven within it with Grozier’s voice like a cry from the wilderness across frozen wastes, here it’s much warmer, his voice less prophetic and more hopeful. Charlie’s Old Mustang/Graveyard, originally a dusty alt-country outing, here, stripped back to its basics, allows this poignant tale of a graveyard visit its full measure.
Twenty Third Street was the very attractive opening song on All That’s Been Lost, delivered in a sweet country rock style with lashings of pedal steel and twangy telecaster. Grozier totally dials it down here taking the song at a much slower place and giving it a fine wintry New York feel as if he’s following in the slushy boot heels of Dylan on the album cover of Freewheelin’ while the mention of losing his mind in the Chelsea hotel inevitable invokes memories of the late and much lamented L. Cohen. It’s the most successful makeover here and is beautifully delivered. The E.P. closes with Take My Leave, a song originally released back in 2016 in an already stripped back acoustic fashion. It might only be seven years in between but this new version does seem to portray a singer who is less strident and more comfortable in his own skin.
While a new set of songs from Grozier is much awaited, this slight return is much appreciated and, with a set of live dates lined up, hopefully will alert folk to a local artist who has much to offer.