THE RECORD (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph,ON) 11/18/04
by Jason Schneider

Szabo makes a great divide

Local singer/songwriter shows his versatility with a mix of acoustic/electric on new LP

   Although the reasons for titling his new EP Late Bloomer were partly ironic, it's a description that's not totally inaccurate when talking about Rob Szabo.  He has made the transformation over the past decade from playing funk-rock with local faves the Groove Daddys, to threatening mainstream radio with Plasticine, now emerging as an insightful singer/songwriter.
   He may be most comfoartable wearing the last hat, as his excellent debut solo album, A Battery of Tests, excitingly showed.  The six-song late Bloomer/sore Loser continues in that vein, and actually shows off more of Szabo's versatility.  The songs are split into two groups, electric and acoustic, but all are among the most movingly personal that he has written.  What may be surprising is how it came together so fast.
   "I've been working on a new full-length album that's going to have a DVD with it," Szabo says.  These songs were around and seemed to lend themselves to the idea of a Neil Young electric/acoustic thing, which I've always wanted to do, so it made sense to put it out.   It was a nice excuse to try my experiment of doing some songs with just drums and baritone guitar, and I'm pretty happy with how that turned out too."
   With only a little help from his engineer Scott Cooper and Plasticine mates Steve Strongman and Craig Lapsley, Szabo did the bulk of the work at his Toronto home studio.  As an artists who, throughout his career, has always seemed just under the national radar, Szabo has grown accustomed to being totally independent.
   "It's nice to have a frame of reference from all the other recording I've done, and be able to put something out without agonizing too much over it, " he says.  "It took a little while longer than the two weeks I'd planned for it, but all in all this happened the quickest of all the other records I've ever done."
   Szabo will be promoting the EP with local shows backed by Cooper on bass and fellow Waterloo expat Dan Cornelius on drums.  However, Szabo has matured into a solo performer, and recently proved it on a tour of the northeastern U.S.
   "That was a fantastic experience, mostly because I was playing for people who had never heard me before.  It was incredible how responsive everyone was.  It almost felt like when I first started, except now I have a lot more confidence.  I'm really looking forward to going back."
   Look for Szabo to tour Canada in the spring as well.  His next full length album, with accompanying DVD is expected to be done some time in 2005.