Ezra Grey – Afterall EP
Not much personal information was made available for the Brooklyn-based Brazilian-American Ezra Grey, but his debut 6-song solo EP opens with the interesting title track “Afterall.” It provides light shadings of Dave Matthews & David Gray & the tune is well-recorded with a steady ambiance throughout. The drums are crisp on the beat & Grey’s voice has a more dominating tone than many of the average singer-songwriters who tread the commercial-mainstream charts each year. Very little in the way of cliches in his lyrics & a minimum of falsetto. This tune has an expansive tight arrangement that helps it stay afloat as a coherent melody.
The brief set was produced by multi-instrumentalist Ezra with Zaki Ali (drums). Afterall (Drops Feb. 16/Independent/21:00) is a perfect introduction to this new artist. The second cut “Yael,” doesn’t follow the Dave Matthews trail but leads listeners down a path of light warm balladry with an array of colorful instrumentation that keeps everything well balanced & most importantly original. Its faithful almost Santana-like guitar fills & a hint of jazzy flavors keep it all moving along with refined excitement.
Ezra does sing with a more modern touch than vintage singers of the past. What saves him from the mediocrity of today’s realm of vocalists is his tone – he has a nice sound to his voice, a good articulate lyric base sewn into his musical soundscape. Some music writers have called this alternative rock, but I’ve been at this game for a long time. Alternative to what? These are basic well-written songs rooted in many genres that have been here already for decades & is hardly an alternative. Alternative rock was once Talking Heads, Television, XTC & this isn’t that by a long shot.
“Into the Sun,” is average fare with tasty licks, an easily nascent musical success with the usual, wonderful but not overpowering vocal approach. All the musicianship in this effort is admirable. No meandering, just a few tenderly etched melodic lines to create apropos dreamscapes, with an ethereal approach. Fortunately, Ezra doesn’t rely too much on electronics but seems to be wisely preoccupied with the atmosphere he creates around each composition.
While his voice doesn’t have a powerful range, he does use his voice excellently as a means of expression with a varied uncluttered & tidy execution.
Highlights – “Afterall,” “Yael” & “Into the Sun.”
Color image courtesy of Ezra’s Facebook. CD @ Bandcamp + https://www.ezra-grey.com/
