Preceded by two EPs, “Circles” and “Just Another One”, largely recovered for this debut, Greazy Alice's first album is one of the surprises of the year that has just begun.
Born in Pennsylvania, he moved to New Orleans after living with his parents in Philadelphia, Alex Pianovich cultivated a passion for country music since he was a boy before finding the right formula for this dazzling first act (in the meantime he studied biology and was a herpetologist for years), a record developed with the contribution of Will Repholz (bass), Lee Garcia (drums) and singer Jo Morris (Alex's partner).
“As Time Goes By” is an album that has its roots in the music of Gram Parsons, Kris Kristofferson and Terry Allen (the name of the band is taken from a prostitute protagonist of a song by Terry Allen included in the album “Juarez”), a project that reawakens all the evocative power of those songs as simple as they are poetic and even funny that have made the history of American country-folk music.
The album was recorded largely with a portable reel-to-reel Tascam, a choice that enhances the warm and enveloping sounds of the ten tracks and often refers to the Cowboy Junkies' masterpiece “The Trinity Session”. Greazy Alice's is a journey into memories and places of the soul, a story that slides on country sounds delicately outlined by piano, guitar, bass and drums that remain behind the scenes (“Circles”), or by velvety country-blues ballads slightly imbued with jazz (“Green”), but also by urban-country impulses that seem to come out of a Lou Reed record: the splendid “Just Another One” (a song inspired by the film Casablanca) which ends up being the “Sweet Jane” in the ever lively comparison with the second album by the Timmins brothers, a poignant reflection on the destabilizing power of love.
“As Time Goes By” is a record that flows with impressive naturalness, the songs fit together like little classics. Alex Pianovich recalls his journey to New Orleans by comparing the various stages with the seasons of life, while bells and dissonant piano chords flow fluidly and slowly on poignant melodies that take the breath away from the voice (“Turn”), and exalting that spirit of troubadour which finds further space in clumsy folk songs graced by female counterpoint and the sound of the harmonica: “Departures”.
In equal spirit the band shakes up the atmosphere with an interlude honky tonks and rockabilly, “West”, sings country ballads to sing around the fire, “Stop Asking Why”, hints at an elegant waltz step in “Firefly”, and then concludes the album with a touching gospel-country held up by a solitary piano and the voices of Alex and Jo, a splendid final page of an album that you will not easily forget.
02/19/2026
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
