Born and raised in NYC, guitarist and songwriter Jack Broza makes music out of things he has gathered. Trained as a jazz and classical guitarist, Jack studied composition at Yale University and Afro-Cuban music while living in Havana. Intricate textures and jarring arrangements fill his songs with unexpected turns. His 2018 debut album Gather, Together (which was also reviewed on Divide and Conquer) leaps between Cuban salsa, chamber music, spoken word and more, featuring a variety of vocalists and languages. This year, he is releasing a series of five EP's — each project zeros in on a different sound world, but all of them place Broza's own vocals at the forefront. The first of these releases is Not That Deep. The demo's for this EP were written and recorded while traveling in Havana, New Orleans and Miami. Broza spent Fall 2018 through Spring 2019 completing a research fellowship about Cuban music and in his spare time he outlined the songs using just a laptop, travel guitar and zoom H6. The songs run continuously into one another and are equal parts intimate and extravagant — confessional lyrics accompanied by guitar or piano will unexpectedly explode into dramatic and ornately orchestrated walls of sound. The songs rarely start in the same place they end up and each track has a unique sound world. All instruments, vocals and production were done by Broza except, Nathan Reising on saxophone (track two), Griffin Brown on drums and vocals (tracks one, three, four), and Carmen Lawrence on vocals (track one). Mastered by Jamie Lawrence.
Broza states in the opener “Walk Away, Run” switches between a polyrhythmic guitar ostinato and a synth-pop chorus. I can’t even imagine what Broza’s fingers are doing on the guitar – just hearing it is amazing enough. The rhythm is complex, layered and funky all in one. A journey into all things experimental – I couldn’t even tell you who I would compare Broza to musically. “All-Nighters” builds through a virtuosic saxophone solo into a dreamy outro. The beginning starts off in hushed, light acoustic tones, and then some more synth textures along with a smooth sax. Lyrically, it’s pretty sparse. Next “Not Everything’s a Phase” trickles in with piano with some interesting guitar plucks here and there. The lyrics suggest not looking into a relationship so seriously, or at least, trying to figure where one fits into the picture. Maybe walking away from the screen and walking your four-legged friend will help. The style with this number is quite varied, mixing influences of African, Cuban, jazz and synth pop. Broza states the EP’s title comes from a lyric in this track: “Sometimes a bad week, is just seven bad days. Not everything’s a phase…. It’s not that deep, just seven bad days.” The last track “Lifeline” (featuring Griffin Brown on vocals), uses re-sampled fragments of Broza’s classical guitar playing to create a murky sea of “throbbing harmony.” The beginning is pretty wild, as it does not sound like your usual classical guitar. There are more experimental sounds to be had here for sure, some rather psychedelic. Lyrically, the words are a downer as Broza writes about a best friend dying “found floating up the San Francisco tide line.” The warning signs were missed, the lifeline wasn’t strong enough. But he intercedes for other listeners midway in the song, who may be going through dark times – “So if you get to the end of your rope, hold on… ‘Cuz even if you’re at the end of your rope you can survive.” Broza’s Not That Deep, seemed pretty deep to me – and intensely creative! Not something I would recommend if you wanted to listen to the usual three-minute sing-along pop song. This is deeper.
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