Jon Pozzuto’s four song debut is the perfect introduction to his talents. He’s a multi-instrumentalist with the majority of his focus falling on guitar and has taken on the task of playing everything on his EP Valley of Lost Cities. The songs are deceptively ambitious; his musical landscapes are relatively straight-forward but the lyrics explore themes, imagery, and his interior life in a way that few modern songwriters do in this style. It has always been my belief that the unique physicality of hard rock affords musical artists an opportunity to convey challenging lyrics in a visceral musical setting that no acoustic guitars can equal.
One of his professed musical heroes, Lou Reed, professed the ambition of writing rock songs for adult listeners. Pozzuto shares that ambition, even if he wouldn’t state it as such. “Dead End Train” has traveled down the same dark streets and through the same seemingly endless nights as Reed. Pozzuto, however, dramatizes his journey in personal language and the hard-charging push of the instruments makes this an irresistible listening experience.
He’s more than a serviceable singer. One of his key strengths as a singer is the way he strives to make his vocal part of the overall musical structure than imposing his voice over the arrangement. The first of two blues-influenced rockers comes with “Love and Death” and it will be the EP’s best track for many. It doesn’t beat around the bush about its debt to the blues slashing through the introduction with soulful harmonica; few will mind.
The chorus is where everything reaches its peak. It isn’t just a musical summit, however, as Pozzuto also ratchets up the lyrical excellence during the refrain. His twisting verbal ingenuity is never tinsel. Every word is functional, the imagery on point and Pozzuto fully involved with every syllable. “Cemetery Grove” is another intense lyric, but he takes the shrewd step of pairing it with a bright and airy musical arrangement. There’s evidence of his folky inclinations throughout this track but it never sounds out of place.
The production isn’t flawless. There are listeners who will wish he incorporated his vocals better into the arrangements, but most will hear no loss in power or emotional effect. He ends the EP with its title song, and this is, by far, the EP’s best lyric for pure concrete imagery. It’s writing from an author who knows exactly what they want to portray and how to do it. This is his debut, yes, but there’s definitely a sense coming from these songs of an artist who has prepared for this moment. His songwriting skills are as sharp as they come.
Putting his guitar together with keyboards pays off a final time, especially in a fast-paced track, and there’s no feeling of him rushing the end. Valley of Lost Cities is an EP, but Jon Pozzuto has managed to pack an album’s worth of musical value into four concise yet imaginative songs. It’s a vibrant finale for an equally vibrant release.
Claire Uebelacker