Mapache Details Expansive New Album ‘Swinging Stars’ & Shares Single

Cosmic folk outfit Mapache will release their new studio album, Swinging Stars, on August 18 through Innovative Leisure. “People Please,” the lead single, arrived with news of the pending LP.

Mapache, the duo of guitarists/vocalists Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch, expanded to a trio with drummer Steve Didelot contributing to all 14 of the tracks making up the forthcoming album. The follow-up to 2022’s Roscoe’s Dream once again sees Mapache working with producer/bassist Dan Horne as he has their previous four releases. Recording took place over a week while staying together at the scenic Panoramic House studio in Stinson Beach, California.

“It’s a pretty impactful place,” Finch said of Panoramic House. “It’s kind of dramatic. It’s a castle-y building on a hill, way up overlooking the Bay. That environment yields itself to a higher level of focus because everybody’s together for a week. We were all captive. No one could escape.”

Didelot wrote the song “Reflecting Everything,” while “Rainbow Song” is credited to Seamus Turner. Allah-Lahs’ bassist Spencer Dunham appears on the track, “French Kiss.” Renowned singer-songwriter/guitarist David Rawlings remotely recorded an acoustic guitar part for the song, “Where’d You Go.”

“He’s someone who Sam and I look up to in a pretty serious way,” Finch said of Rawlings. “So it was cool to have him.”

Longtime friends since high school, Blasucci and Finch approached songwriting differently, partly due to the fact that they no longer live in the same city. The distance forced the pair to work on some of the songs independently before bringing them to the project.

“Swinging Stars was probably the first Mapache record where each of us really leaned into our personal, distinct styles,” stated Blasucci, whose forthcoming debut solo album, Off My Stars, is due on June 2.

Watch the “People Please” video below:

Swinging Stars Tracklist

1. Sentir
2. French Kiss
3. What A Summer
4. Hey
5. Reflecting Everything
6. Sammy Boy
7. Home Among The Swinging Stars
8. Midnight
9. Encinal Canyon
10. Ghosts
11. Amazing
12. People Please
13. Rainbow Song
14. Where’d You Go