Bio
A latecomer to the crowded cosmos of pop music, Greg Annussek first picked up a guitar in his early 20s with the aim of learning a few chords and strumming along with some classic tunes by the Beatles and Elvis Costello. Within a few years this freelance writer from New York City was moonlighting as a singer-songwriter, producing a catchy variety of alternative pop rock blended with elements of country and folk. To some music critics, his roots-rock echoes and memorable hooks have called to mind the likes of Jakob Dylan, Matthew Sweet, and Ron Sexsmith among others.
Greg’s debut CD "Little Palaces" offers a number of musical choices, from the indie rock of tunes like “Young Again” and “In the Movies” to the twangy alt-country of “Long Way Down,” revealing his knack for writing deceptively simple, well-crafted pop songs in a variety of forms. “With an ethereal voice and an approach to crafting pop nuggets that often recalls Michael Penn or Matthew Sweet, Greg Annussek proves himself to be a viable contender in the race for the title of next-big-thing adult songsmith,” wrote William Tyler in an issue of Performing Songwriter magazine. “Numbers like ‘Long Way Down’ have a bittersweet feel recalling Ron Sexsmith, and the sensitive production of Ernest Adzentoivich, who adds lush string arrangements, also helps set this album apart from many other melancholy forays.”
Most of "Little Palaces," which was produced by Ernest Adzentoivich of the drum-and-bass trio Plexus, was recorded over a period of two or three days at Mother West Studios in New York City with the aid of a bevy of backup players. Because the CD explores a variety of styles and moods, each track was produced on its own merits without striving to achieve an overall homogeneity of sound. “Annussek sleekly takes parts of pop, western, and electrics, and mixes it into a non-acoustic version of the singer-songwriter tradition,” explained Robert Barry Francos in a Shredding Paper magazine review. “It's nice to see the tradition stretched in directions beyond its standard confines.” Not surprisingly, Greg's music reflects a broad array of influences from pop music past and present, including the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Matthew Sweet, Squeeze, Sheryl Crow, Garbage, and Hole.