The making of “Swinging Stars”: How the California coast and self-identity influenced Mapache’s latest album
To describe the California sound is to play the music of Mapache.
A certain West Coast, folk-rock flare produced by the warm harmonies of band members Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch, coupled with layers of instrumentals within each of their songs, leaves listeners basking in images of sun-kissed rolling hills and golden sparkles on waves of crashing blue water.
This laidback, surf-centric style that the duo — and drummer Steve Didelot and bassist Cam Wehrle — have perfected is effortlessly entwined in every record. While Mapache’s following has taken off in recent years, the band’s roots trace back to the shared passion of music Blasucci and Finch explored together in a high school music class.
Having both grown up in Glendale, Los Angeles, the pair regularly played together and created music.
The duo jammed in a small band, played gigs in local coffee shops and bookstores and tapped into their similar love for folk and bluegrass artists until 2011, when Finch went north to study at Chico State University and Blasucci took part in a mission trip in Saltillo, Mexico.
Having remained friends over the years, the duo reconnected in 2016 and their synergy effortlessly blended back into their lives. The formation of Mapache soon became the next outlet for their new lyrical ideas and creative endeavors.
Mapache’s discography
Spanish for “raccoon,” Mapache wanted a band name with a cool sound that seemed authentic to the music they were soon going to make. And it took no time at all for Blasucci and Finch to write and record their first collection of songs, with their 2017 debut album titled “Mapache.”
The record, pulsating with groovy guitar instrumentals and satisfying harmonies that emulate distinct SoCal vibes, gave their new audience a taste of their easygoing style — one that seamlessly fuses folk, country, rock and Latin influences.
Their ever-growing passion for making music led to the 2018 release of the three-song EP “Lonesome LA Cowboy.” This collection was a space for Blasucci and Finch to further explore their own musical styles, adding their own flare to cover songs by bands like The Louvin Brothers and New Riders of the Purple Sage.
With musical ideas seemingly flowing out of the pair, the next four years brought forth four new albums, with “From Liberty Street” in 2020, “3” in 2021 and “Roscoe’s Dream” in 2022. These were followed by Mapache’s latest record, “Swinging Stars.”
“Swinging Stars” comes to life
Released in mid-August 2023, the 14-track LP is the duo’s true culmination of their many styles.
“I think variety always strengthens art in general,” Blasucci said.
With each song off “Swinging Stars” unique in its influences, listeners can notice how Blasucci and Finch left space for their individuality to seep through.
“[Finch] and I used to live together for years, and when we moved out and had our own living situations and own lives going, the diversity in our experiences personally became a lot greater and that influences the music a lot,” Blasucci said. “So I think having that alone led us both into very different places musically with very different styles.”
It’s with this coalescence of sounds that songs written by Finch, like “Home Among The Swinging Stars” and “Amazing,” can coexist in the same album as Blasucci’s “French Kiss” and “People Please.” They vary in instrumental style and pace while maintaining that same coastal, folk-cowboy aura the record so smoothly exudes.
“I think we balance each other nicely, so the combinations of our songs make a nice package altogether,” Finch said.
Fusing this synergy of the band is the overarching West Coast influences from Blasucci’s and Finch’s upbringings. “Swinging Stars” perfectly embodies California’s most revered qualities — ones of sunny days, connected with the natural elements of refreshing surf and expansive hills.
The song “Encinal Canyon” seems like an ode to the winding road that’s nestled in the mountains of Western Malibu, with lyrics like “riding up and down Encinal Canyon / somewhere I know I will not be found.”
The rhythmic flow of lyrics in “What A Summer” plays on the nostalgic lull that nature can put one in: “In the morning / When the air is cold / There’s a fleeting feeling / Of your days in school / All the sidewalks that you’ve known.” As Blasucci and Finch swap solos throughout the song, they come together in perfect harmony, singing, “And all the oak trees hovering / And the smells of seasons when you were in love.”
It becomes clear upon listening to Mapache’s sound that the band doesn’t force a specific vibe, nor do they search beyond their unique ideas and experiences when creating their music. As Finch said, by growing up in Southern California, its influence has become “part of the fabric of our creativity.”
The incorporation of the Spanish language in many of their songs, like “Aquellos Ojos Verdes” from the record “Mapache” or “Me Voy Pa’l Pueblo” off “From Liberty Street,” also traces back to Blasucci’s and Finch’s childhoods. With Hispanic influences entwined in the multicultural neighborhoods and areas they grew up in, exploring music and storytelling through the language is only natural for them.
In “Sentir” — whose title is Spanish for “feel” — Blasucci and Finch sing of the yearning to feel everything, to let both the good and the bad flood in and make them feel alive. Themes of love and longing blend with the light electric instrumentals in lyrics such as “Quiero sentir lo más que se pueda,” translated to “I want to feel as much as possible.” As the song effortlessly flows to its final verse, the pair sing, “Si me hagas sentir / Quiero amor, quiero soledad,” translated to, “If you make me feel / I want love, I want loneliness.”
By embracing their roots and allowing their Southern Californian influences to be the thread, connecting song to song and album to album, Mapache has fostered the charisma that fans know and love over the years.
The band
Along with the pair’s effortless blend of styles, an amalgamation of other contributors transforms the “Swinging Stars” record and adds a certain individualistic flare.
Described by Blasucci and Finch as a brother, Didelot — who also played on “Roscoe’s Dream” — can be heard drumming throughout the album, with his musical artistry especially shining through on his original song, “Reflecting Everything.”
On bass for the song “French Kiss” is musician Spencer Dunham from the LA-based surf-rock band Allah-Las, who has played temporarily with Mapache in between his tours and other commitments, Blasucci said. Playing bass and pedal steel guitar for many of the album’s songs is the artist and longtime producer for Mapache Dan Horne.
“Swinging Stars” ends on a high note, with its finale song, “Where’d You Go?,” featuring country-folk artist David Rawlings — well known for his music with Gillian Welch — on acoustic guitar. Having looked up to Rawlings for years, Blasucci and Finch said they were honored that he accepted the offer to contribute to the record remotely.
Recording at “Camp Mapache”
Just as Mapache kept the writing processes free and lighthearted, tapping into their creative flow whenever inspiration struck, the band’s recording processes took on this same form. Traveling up to Stinson Beach, CA, they switched up their norm by hunkering down at the Panoramic House Studio, a secluded retreat that has housed many musicians in their recording sessions. There, for the first time, Mapache recorded as a full band.
“We’ve always had drums on the records, but usually me and [Finch] would record everything and bring in people to [play] on top of that,” Blasucci said. “But this was the first time we went up as a four-piece band to the studio and recorded that way, so that was new and a very different vibe.”
Some days they would bring a few big mics into the room and record everything altogether, giving the record more “live band vibes,” as Finch said.
One album that Blasucci can remember fervently listening to leading up to the album’s recording sessions was Bob Dylan’s and The Band’s 1975 release, “The Basement Tapes.”
“I was really interested in trying to make something that sounded similarly loose and live, which is what kind of inspired me to do a lot of the record live,” Blassuci said.
The album exudes a free and organic essence, due also in part to their focus on being less precise about each small detail and more dedicated to capturing an overarching sound.
Nestled amongst the rolling hills with views of the Pacific Ocean’s expanse through every window of the Panoramic House, the band was surrounded by the very nature that they so frequently reference in their song lyrics.
“Previously we’ve always recorded someplace where we could go home at the end of the night, so it was fun we got to just go to ‘Camp Mapache’ and cook together and go on hikes in the mornings,” Finch said. “I think it does add some sort of congruency or collective energy.”
The record on tour
The band’s overall harmony was only strengthened as the members of Mapache traveled around the country on their “Swinging Stars” tour that began on August 26, 2023, and ended mid-November. Playing over 35 shows, with many back-to-back, the band became harmoniously synced on every level.
“Being on the road is pretty challenging, and it really stretches you out,” Finch said. But beyond the exhausting aspects of touring lies the all too satisfying feeling of playing in that deeply personal space with his bandmates.
“It’s what makes it all worth it, it’s kind of the only way you can really get to that level of musical alchemy,” he said.
For Blasucci, touring with the band is not only fulfilling in the deep connections it fosters with everyone but also for the more personal opportunities it offers that align well with his personality.
“I really like to live off the road, and the routine of touring seems to suit me nicely,” Blasucci said. “I like to travel and live out of a suitcase and not worry about too much else.”
Blasucci and Finch began their San Luis Obispo show with an acoustic set, sitting huddled around a mic with a single spotlight shining down on them. The simplicity of the opening songs required only guitars and the blended harmonies of their voices.
The duo had listeners quickly in a fully absorbed state, swaying with friends and loved ones by their sides. Didelot and Wherle accompanied them later, as the band played a variety of songs old and new.
Going forward
Now that the album has been released and the tour has come to a close, Blasucci and Finch have settled back into their homes in Ojai and Malibu, and the fast-paced action of the tour has turned into a slower, more reflective period — one still filled with music, nonetheless.
But as all creatives do, the duo is always pursuing other outlets of self-expression and artistic endeavors. For Finch, that’s surfing, for as he said, whenever he’s back home he is in the water chasing waves.
Blasucci, too, is at the beach, though more typically on the sand with a notebook and pen in hand. Deriving inspiration from the peaceful lull of the swells and the natural flow of people enjoying themselves, “It feels like a sort of relief to me to write thoughts down,” he said.
Blasucci and Finch both agree that their high school selves never assumed their future would entail the successful musical endeavors that make up their current reality. During every show and tour they embark on, it comes as a constant surprise whenever there’s a turn-out.
“It’s never stale, it’s always a pleasant surprise that people are on the journey with us,” Blasucci said.
As young musicians, they were focused on letting their deep-rooted passions for music freely guide them from jam session to jam session, and later bring them to form a band. What mattered most was keeping that spark alive.
“Especially when you’re first starting out,” Finch said, speaking directly to young music enthusiasts, “play as much as you can, play out as much as you can, play with a lot of people and make sure it’s fun.”
“One thing I’ll say is to never let anything outside inhibit what you feel like doing,” Blasucci said. “If you’re afraid to do something because of what others might think, then you should try to push past that and pursue the creative things that make you feel good, that call to you.”
And maybe that’s simply the beauty in music and an ode to life in general; that though unpredictable, time flows as ceaselessly as each of Mapache’s records, and by continuing to pursue the creative passions that call to you and enliven your inner spirits, anything can happen.
