Improvs 1 by Mike Polizze

Following closely on the heels of his acclaimed second solo record, Around Sound, Mike Polizze is releasing an instrumental outtake from the album recording sessions, titled “Improvs 1,” demonstrating the album’s new emphasis on acoustic fingerpicking.

This December Polizze will be touring with Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band. Davis writes of Polizze:

“God-tier shredder and somehow also totally chill mortal Mike Polizze smears a little icing on the already tasty cake of his Summer 2025 long-burner Around Sound with the post-release sequencing addition of ‘Improvs 1’ — a beautifully tense, peacefully unrelaxed, low-key sizzler of an instrumental track that shines bright enough to blind your brain for a brief moment before refocusing your vision, resettling your ears, and starting the whole goddamn album over from the top. Think of it not as an addendum but as a spirited intermission for repeated relistening!”

TOUR DATES

8/17 Philadelphia, PA (record release show) @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Silver Synthetic & Lo Fives
9/6 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
12/9 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s +
12/10 Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket S.H.+
12 /11 Toronto, ON @ The Garrison +
12 /12 Detroit, MI @ Lager House +
12/13 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle +

+ = w/ Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band

SELECTED ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOR AROUND SOUND

Around Sound is another beaut, Polizze using his wistful vocals, wry lyrics, and fingerpicking guitar style to foster moods that are joyful, forlorn, and somewhere in between. The easy, seemingly free-flowing vibe belies the intricacy of his craftsmanship throughout.

– Uncut

Mike Polizze’s languid second solo disc unspools acoustic blues licks and finger-picked eddies, staying firmly in the pocket. This all-acoustic endeavor ruminates on love, family and the genius of small things, and it lives in a moist, humid sonic space that feels like the aftermath of a summer storm … Around Sound is perfect for lazy, motionless rumination.

– Aquarium Drunkard

His second album is more varied and confident … His idiosyncratic approach to layering suits these songs about loyalty and mistrust, self-soothing and obdurate rejection … Polizze is best when he indulges his idiosyncrasy, like on “You’ve Been Doing Fine,” a seven-minute meditation on disappointment that slowly exits this atmosphere.

– MOJO

It feels like Mike Polizze has unlocked some doors with Around Sound. There is a tone that unites the whole record: a celestial, dreamy mirage of sound that shifts with the elements from bright sunshine heat to breezy clouds casting darker shadows.

– KLOF

Time to kick back and have a beer … Blissed out and pensive, rarely has a musician ploughed their own furrow so thoroughly.

– Morning Star

The second solo record by Mike Polizze is a rainier and more pensive affair than its predecessor—despite its playful humor and plentiful hooks—affirms his status as a consummate (and now not-so-secret) craftsman of instantly memorable bucolic odes of languid beauty, deepening his fingerstyle acoustic guitar magic.