Sam Blasucci’s partnership with Clay Finch in Mapache has proved prolific with three albums in as many years and another due shortly. It hasn’t however entirely monopolised his creativity. Recently taking possession of a piano he was inspired to create a fresh cluster of songs sufficiently biographical to require release under his own name.
Off My Stars shows a definite pivot towards soft, even yacht, rock, with noticeable influence of vaudeville and the Great American Songbook. Songs dwelling at a little remove from Mapache’s more country stylings; more intimate, more personal, but paradoxically less porch and more studio.
Recorded at Lone Palm, a familiar Mapache haunt, with producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Payne it opens with sultry sax, piano, and Blasucci’s unmistakable voice; ‘Sha La La’ sets the tone with its snaky progress inviting complicit leaning-into. Soon follows the beautiful yearning ‘Paradise’, and a charming cover of Dido’s ‘Thank You’ replete with melodica.
Family roots are revisited in Italian crooner Jimmy Fontana’s ‘Il Mondo’ before a Meek-esque intro blossoms into the Laura Nyro/Fifth Dimension redolent ‘Can You Teach Me’. ‘Proud Of You Dad’ is a touching, conversational paean to his musician father, while ‘Make Someone Happy’ offers a similarly affecting reading of the show tune.
Available now on Innovative Leisure
Bucketfull Of Brains 