Benny Bleu Haravitch plays old time banjo in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, perched at the northern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains. Haravitch, a geologist himself, grew up in the region defined by deep lake valleys and steep highlands. This up-and-down is reflected in the local flavor of fiddle tunes, and Benny Bleu's banjo surely sways with the perpetual oscillation that shapes the Finger Lakes old time sound. His clawhammer banjo playing is like a marching band - the bugle melodies in lock-step with the drum corps. On March of the Mollusk, a new album of meditative banjo tunes, Haravitch holds true to the local tradition and offers a collection of grooves soothing in their dance-like delivery. He invites us to walk with the cadence of a snail through the woods. For only by softening our pace could we hope to answer the conundrum of modern existence together.