Robert Sarazin Blake

A Long Series of Memorable Nights: The Belfast SessionsDead Slack String Records * *

This Washington state native has clearly been smitten by Irish music. Blake's tales of lost nights in Dingle's An Droichead Beag will find echoes in many a travelogue. This, his eighth album, is a collaboration with piper John McSherry, who also produced. It's a curious mix of Townes Van Zandt/Guy Clark-tinged tales (Bergen, Belfast, Aberdeen) and the hokiest, most dewey-eyed mix of Americana shot through with traditional bridges that gape and plod without intent. City Covered in Snowmight have been a decent reflection on love lost, but it falters beneath the weight of The Spinning Wheel, a tune on low whistle stapled to its skin with all the subtlety of a pick axe. McSherry's pipes are characteristically finely tuned, but ultimately mismatched with Sarazin's songs, which are closer in mood and tenor to Tom Pacheco than anything even distantly related to music from these parts. See deadslack string.com