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All the hype about prosecco-pounding singer/songwriter Vinicio Caposella being the Italian Tom Waits never seemed like a ringing endorsement, but listening to his three-ring circus of the macabre on Ovunque Proteggi (May You Protect Me Everywhere), written and recorded in various ancient churches, monasteries, train stations and Sardinian caves, makes the comparison understandable. The gruffly howling and cackling Caposella (sandpapper voices, much like scruffy beards, are pre-requisites for Italian stardom) has obviously read the same Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski books as Waits and shares his fascination with the sort of off-kilter tangos, maniacal mambos and creaky tarantellas that are made to measure for twisted tales of desperate characters who inhabit the shadow world. Having a ringer like adventuresome guitarist Marc Ribot on hand to twerk things out right certainly helps.
Caposella will be accompanied by his quartet, featuring Marc Ribot, at his Canadian debut at Lula Lounge Friday (May 18).
