RECOMMENDED
“La Voce Toa” is among the best songs of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino’s, and it happens to be the sole English-language tune on their 2012 album “Pizzica Indiavolata.” The vocal belongs to Piers Faccini, an English singer-songwriter who is currently touring the United States in support of “Between Dogs and Wolves,” his second release via San Francisco-based indie label Six Degrees.
Faccini’s style is a mix of folk, blues and acoustic rock with a heavy African influence and a dab of jam-band feel. But don’t expect him to get lost in endless guitar riffs during his performances. In fact, when playing Stateside he travels lightly, accompanied only by his own guitar and a percussionist, which allows fans to focus on his voice. His heartfelt delivery has a laid-back feel, and his reflexive lyrics set him apart from today’s shoegazing singer-songwriters.
Faccini is an avid collaborator who has worked with musicians as diverse as Rokia Traoré, Ben Harper and the aforementioned Southern Italian folk group Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Thanks to his open embrace of a diversity of sounds, he enriches his own musical palate and emerges with welcome and surprising new sounds with each subsequent release. (Ernest Barteldes)
September 15 at Park West, 322 West Armitage, (773)929-5959. 7:30pm. $22. 18+.
Related Stories
Diversity Initiative: A Preview of Jimmy Herring at Park West On his most recent solo release—last year's “Live in San Francisco”—Herring and his band reach dizzying heights that combine instrumental pyrotechnics with a song-based aesthetic that balances the best characteristics of jazz, fusion and jam-based music.- Blockbuster: A Preview of The Silver Room Block Party in Hyde Park This is a block party in the same way that the Chosen Few Picnic is a picnic.
- Last Punks Standing: A Preview of Mekons at Hideout Mekons have endured by refusing to adhere to anyone's ideas regarding what is and isn't punk rock (which is in and of itself a defiantly punk attitude).
- Shock Value: A Preview of Last Fantastic Nasty at Quenchers I get the sense that Last Fantastic Nasty are still in that “figuring who we are” phase, where you’ve realized you can get attention by shocking people, but you start thinking long and hard about whether or not you want to. And they do have the musical chops to do well: the songs are metallic and complicated and compelling, even…
