*FOR SONG DETAILS, click on the title of each track*

Michael Mazzarella's 2nd solo album featuring ballads, hymns and
odes which are delivered using simple guitars, piano, organ and sparse drumming.

There's a song about a bygone relationship fallen through the cracks of life. There's a tale for a vagabond lover on the run. A gospel-esque offering about someones father - a blue-collar every-man's hero. One decries a presidential administration and a blues is an open letter for forgiveness. A couple have churchly overtones replete with an eminent chorus here, a "hallelujah" exclamation there. These are new folk songs written for anyone willing to listen. Folk Songs For The Curious Few.


REVIEWS:

It is perhaps Mazzarella's most eloquently regal, yet still somehow understated undertaking to date.
- The Gold Report


Another impressive effort, an unassuming set of instantly engaging songs that find easy access to the cerebellum from first listen on.
- Amplifier Magazine


As the leader of The Rooks, Michael Mazzarella has had a hand in some of the pop genre’s defining moments. Eschewing the upbeat pop idiom for the time being, Mazzarella’s self-deprecatingly titled Folk Songs For the Curious Few is his second solo record and a bit of a departure from his debut, Grey Over and Autumn Winter. While Grey was a bleak, stark lyrical exploration of Mazzarella’s psyche, Folk Songs is much more musically accessible, while still intensely personal.

The bulk of the 10 tracks are prayerful, keyboard-based confessionals with thoughtful lyrics wrapped around beautiful, affecting melodies sung in a voice that is alternately raw and understated. Whether proffering an “Open Letter of Sorry,” reminiscing about “October on Bleecker” (the only non-ballad here), using a fragile falsetto lead vocal to power the verses of “Shine a Little” or doling out unforgettable choruses as he does on “In an Ocean” and “Hallelujah for the Hallelujah of Us,” it’s clear that this an unforgettable album from one of the finest singer/songwriters around.
- John M. Borack/Goldmine Magazine



Michael Mazzarella is a legend among power pop fans for his work with the Rooks. His solo career has concentrated on improving his songwriting abilities and his latest offering “Folk Songs For The Curious Few” is similar to the last album “Grey Over An Autumn Winter,” which presents a song cycle in somber tones. It was recorded on a simple eight-track with help from Richard X. Heyman on the harmony parts.

Vocals as sharp as ever, Mazzarella is sounding more like a mix of Colin Bluntone and Chris Bell on the opener RECOLLECTIONS OF A YOUNG GIRL GONE. Thankfully, the clouds part for the excellent mid-tempo OCTOBER ON BLEECKER with it’s sweet strum and multi-tracked melody that mixes the Beatles and Big Star influences sure to please Rooks fans.

Then the clouds return on bleak THE BALLAD OF WHO ARE WE which is a song about a bygone relationship fallen through the cracks of life. The next track OPEN LETTER OF SORRY has a John Lennon quality with heavy echo in the piano and nasal delivery. Another standout is SHINE A LITTLE which has an spiritual quality with a strong Elton John styled piano melody. The songs themselves feel like a confessional and the melodies sparkle through the lo-fi approach on FOR LADONNA THE BLUE and IN AN OCEAN.

It ends with a gospel statement in HALLELUJAH FOR THE HALLELUJAH OF US and if it had a least one additional mid-tempo or upbeat song in the mix it would be better received. It’s a downer of an album, with the ending lyrics “Have all the friends I have known/Better to feel so alone?” Fans of John Lennon, and Big Star will appreciate this and of course, if the mood suits you.
- PowerPopAholic