badnewssuze
This album so perfectly captures its genre. I’ve seen this band live and they are incredibly talented and put on an amazing show.
Favorite track: Encinal Canyon.
In the past, Mapache recording sessions have been pretty laid-back affairs, with friends coming and going, the sessions starting and stopping at the band’s discretion—as relaxed a process as the immaculately sunny vibes that their four albums would suggest. But on their dynamic and ambitious fifth album of cosmic-folk, Swinging Stars, Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch decided to take a trip and hunker down somewhere particularly special.
“It’s a pretty impactful place,” Finch says of the Panoramic House, the artist retreat where Swinging Stars was recorded. “It’s kind of dramatic. It’s a castle-y building on a hill, way up overlooking the Bay.”
Located in Stinson Beach in Marin County, California, the Panoramic House has recently hosted acts like My Morning Jacket, the War on Drugs, and Cate Le Bon, and was the ideal combination of scenic beauty and self-imposed confinement to allow Mapache to settle in for their most cohesive album yet. “That environment yields itself to a higher level of focus because everybody’s together for a week,” says Finch, explaining that the band stayed there during the process, sharing every bit of their time and energy on a shared vision. “We were all captive. No one could escape,” he laughs.
Swinging Stars, an album of calm, second-nature swagger, is the natural result of a band that’s existed in one form or another for its founders’ entire adult lives. Finch and Blasucci first met as students at La Cañada High School, just north of Los Angeles, where they both had a guitar class: “There wasn’t much supervision or anything,” remembers Blasucci. “It was really nice. And we got to just play guitars together.”
The two stayed friends through their college years—Finch went to Chico State and Blasucci spent two years as a missionary in Mexico—and eventually they ended up back in L.A., spending their days playing guitar together once again, just like old times. Working with producer/engineer Dan Horne (Cass McCombs, Allah-Lahs), they recorded four albums —2017’s Mapache, 2020’s From Liberty Street, 2021’s 3, and 2022’s Roscoe’s Dream. Often trading solos, and occasionally switching from English to Spanish, Finch and Blasucci are perfectly in sync together.
But the duo have also been developing their own personal voices in recent years as well—partially the result of the two of them living in separate cities for the first time in years. (Blasucci now lives in Ojai, and Finch in Malibu.) As Finch explains, that means the “meat and potatoes” of the songs were cooked up more on their own than they had been in the past. “What a Summer,” a slow-burn that sounds something like Bob Weir fronting Crazy Horse, is unmistakably Finch, for instance; “French Kiss,” with its Toussaint swing and Parsons shine, is Blasucci all the way. “Swinging Stars was probably the first Mapache record where each of us really leaned into our personal, distinct styles,” Blasucci explains.
Still, many of the songs on Swinging Stars are the result of a significant amount of group work on the road, sharpening and refining them, getting them just so before hitting the studio with their trusted collaborator Horne, who produced the set. Swinging Stars is also notable for its introduction of drummer Steve Didelot as a formal member of the band, with him playing on every track, and contributing an original song as well—“Reflecting Everything,” a cowboy-chord ballad sparkling with Finch and Blasucci’s guitars, and with Horne’s impeccable slide guitar.
There are also two special features: one from the Allah-Lahs’ Spencer Dunham, who plays bass on “French Kiss,” and another from David Rawlings, who graciously took the call to play acoustic guitar on the album’s finale, “Where’d You Go,” recording his part remotely. “He’s someone who Sam and I look up to in a pretty serious way,” Finch says. “So it was cool to have him.”
Mapache is so easygoing that their vibe belies their prolificness at times. Swinging Stars is their fourth album in as many years, and they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Blasucci chalks it up partly to the fact that, when you have two principal songwriters in a band, “the songs come in quickly and they stack up quickly.” It helps, too, that they’re just in the right place to be making music. “We’re just trying to make hay while the sun shines,” as Finch puts it. “None of us have any babies or anything and we’re all pretty committed to playing as much music as we can. And really focused on making something beautiful.”
credits
released August 18, 2023
Sentir
(Written by Blasucci)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Si lo voy a sentir
Que lo senta todo
En la quema del sol
Es mi oración
En dolor y querer
Me voy hasta el fondo
Mejor dolor saturado
Que el dolor fracasado
Quiero sentir lo más que se pueda
Algo que me llena sea mala sea buena
Que me alcance
Aqui estoy con mi voz
Sentado en la mesa
Esperando ser el tuyo
Si me hagas sentir
Quiero amor, quiero soledad
Te quiero besar, te quiero bailar
Con mi cuerpo quiero besar
French Kiss
(Written by Blasucci/Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Piano & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Spencer Dunham - Bass
I would give away my life
Just to lay my head a while
So much pain awake at night
Telling me to smile
I just never wanted to
But now goddamn I am
When I see my rolling stone
Walking to me with a smile
Agnes V French kiss my soul
On your kitchen floor
Le Bonheur et la pointe courte
I am crashing on your shore
Take it where you take it to
Someday you won’t be around
That’s the greatest love around
To let you be never more
Take it where you take it to
Someday you won’t be around
That’s the greatest love around
Genuine like a child
What A Summer
(Written by Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Acoustic Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums & Vocals
Dan Horne - Bass & Pedal Steel
What a summer
What a transitive night fall and
What a long long time
Before the dawn
Before the dawn
The dawn
I can’t count
Although you know I try
To make a cozy place
For all the story lines
Inside my mind
Inside my mind
In the morning
When the air is cool and
There’s a fleeting feeling
Of your days in school and
All the sidewalks that you’ve known and
Oak trees hovering and
The smell of seasons when
You were in love
You were in love
You were in love
Hey
(Written by Blasucci)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Acoustic Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Hey
I can see so clear today
There must be some divine design
Oh but not for you
So sad
You’re just not made for love
God is for those who have money for peace
And love
And life
Don’t ask me why
These girls get pushed aside
But I will be right here with you
If you fall no god to find
I will be your friend
If you could just try to remember me
Reflecting Everything
(Written by Didelot)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Acoustic Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums & Vocals
Dan Horne - Bass & Pedal Steel
Anything you dream of
Has a way of showing up
As long as you’re keeping time
As above so inside
On this magic carpet ride
Not looking for but seeing the signs
If that’s how you want it to be
Then that’s what you’ll see
In this garden reflecting everything
Off to the bitter end
Feeling down and out again
Only speaking so no silence is found
So there’s no slumber now
As logic tightens knots around your head
As it’s slipping down
If that’s how you want it to be
Then that’s what you’ll see
In this garden reflecting everything
Sammy Boy
(Written by Blasucci/Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Sammy Boy
What happened to you?
You drive them away
Too sad and too blue
Where is your heart?
Where is your soul power?
You just want to be loved
Want to be a shining star
Just want some love, Sammy boy
Tangerine
Don’t leave me now
We sleep in confusion together
Don’t leave me now
Where is your heart?
Where is your soul power?
You just want to be love
Want to be a shining star
Just want some love, Sammy boy
Home Among The Swinging Stars
(Written by Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar
Clay Finch - Acoustic Guitar & Flute
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass & Pedal Steel
Midnight
(Written by Blasucci)
Sam Blasucci - Dobro & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Midnight keeps you shy
This life makes you cry
And if you’re drowning in the fire
It will only take you higher
Algun día vivirás
Sin que esforzarte tanto
Hemos vivido tantos días
Dejemos ya estas cadenas
Encinal Canyon
(Written by Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass & Pedal Steel
Riding up and down encinal canyon
Somewhere I know I will not be found
I’ll lay me down in encinal canyon
Somewhere I know you are not around
The morning star is fading out
Coyotes on the run
I must be on my way somehow
Before the morning sun
There was a time when I’d awake
With my sweetheart by my side
I would sigh and her heart would quake
But I knew I had to ride
Riding up and down encinal canyon
Somewhere I know I will not be found
I’ll lay me down in encinal canyon
Somewhere I know you are not around
Ghosts
(Written by Blasucci)
Sam Blasucci - Piano & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
It’s not the same as it used to be
But it seems to me it will be alright
Ghosts of mine come from time to time
But I do not mind if they like
Don’t let me be
Don’t let me be
Someone please tell my family
That well, everything’s going to be alright
I will be with my baby
So I may not be back for a while
Don’t let me be
Don’t let me be
Don’t let me be
Don’t let me be
Amazing
(Written by Blasucci/Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Piano & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass & Pedal Steel
Some strange morning I’ll awake and say I’m leaving you
Wonder how the wheels of time have turned me away, ah it’s amazing me
Is there something I could say to change this heart of mine, Aw it’s a maze in me
Something simple I could pray to change this world I know, Aw it’s amazing me
On the edges of a dream I had so long ago
Secret songs of the hidden heart, made to be played
Is there something I could say to change this heart of mine, Aw it’s a maze in me
Something simple I could pray to change this world I know, Aw it’s amazing me
Some sweet evening I’ll awake and know im coming home
Wonder how the big wheel turned, such grace, we always knew
There’s a garden in the mind he said now tend to it, Aw it’s amazing me
Morning glory on the vine she read to mend my heart Aw it’s amazing me
Is there something I could say to change this heart of mine, Aw it’s a maze in me
Something simple I could pray to change this world I know, Aw it’s amazing me
People Please
(Written by Blasucci)
Sam Blasucci - Piano, Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Insecure and sexually repressed
Religious men in my life
I sail away through worlds of mine
That don’t revolve around thoughts in your mind
People please
People please
I don’t know it must have been
The rose colored hair in their eyes
Too many saviors to excuse
You think you save you just utilize
Darling please
Darling please
Don’t let me down
Don’t let me down
Don’t let me down
Don’t let me down
The river flows with poison wine
You take a sip it feels so divine
People please it’s not the way
You must believe the black and the gay
People please
People please
Darling please
Darling please
Don’t let me down
Don’t let me down
Don’t let me down
Rainbow Song
(Written by Seamus Turner)
Sam Blasucci - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Clay Finch - Electric Guitar & Vocals
Steve Didelot - Drums
Dan Horne - Bass
Dan Horne - Pedal Steel
Come daytime tag along with me
Amongst the birds that are wingin in the breeze
Come daytime won’t you dance with me upon the branches swayin in the trees
I see you through these eyes I do
Runnin through the groves in the sun
I love you and you know that’s it’s true
Laughin rainbows for everyone
Round daytime whisper to me softly
Darling boy you better keep on runnin, runnin, runnin
Round midnight now gently you breathe the same air as you sisters and your brothers
I see you through these eyes I do
runnin through the groves in the sun
I love you and you know that it’s true
laughin rainbows for everyone
Round midnight won’t you walk with me
Amongst the stars that are hangin in the breeze
Round midnight won’t you sing to me amongst the crickets chirping in the trees
I see you through these eyes I do
runnin through the groves in the sun
I love you and you know that it’s true
laughin rainbows for everyone
Where’d You Go
(Written by Finch)
Sam Blasucci - Dobro & Vocals
Clay Finch - Acoustic Guitar & Vocals
Dave Rawlings - Acoustic Guitar
Dan Horne - Bass
In the time we just sit around
And wait for come what may
It was then I remember well
Our free and easy ways
Yodalahee
Yodalahee
Where’d you go?
Summer came and autumn fell
And the earth spun as it will
There were things we had never seen
It seemed our hearts could ever fill
Yodalahee
Yodalahee
Where’d you go?
Now we live in a precious time
Where days have ends unknown
And I miss that old friend of mine
It seems I’ll never know
Mapache consists of Clay Finch, Sam Blasucci, Cam Wehrle, and Steve Didelot. Born and raised in Glendale, California, the
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supported by 63 fans who also own “Swinging Stars”
Entire album is excellent. As is the rest of the catalog. Go back to 1970...take the Dead and Floyd and roll them up. Yet completely different.
Just plain old GOOD MUSIC. Ed Fransko
