Luca Benedetti – Slow Down For Turtles
An evocative collection of cinematic instrumental compositions that feel like scenes unfolding on an epic road trip
Luca Benedetti – Slow Down For Turtles
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital
Label: Flying Potato Records
Release: 2026
Best described as “travel music”, ‘Slow Down for Turtles’ is an evocative collection of cinematic instrumental compositions that feel like scenes unfolding on an epic road trip. One that Benedetti and his wife took in the Adirondack Mountains where while driving through a lakeside town, they encountered a handmade roadside sign urging drivers to “Slow Down for Turtles.”
Recorded live in the studio with bassist Tony Scherr (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Sex Mob) and drummer Tony Mason (John Scofield, Charlie Hunter, Joan Osborne), ‘Slow Down for Turtles’ unfolds as a spacious, episodic journey blending jazz improvisation, Americana, and blues with global subtleties. The trio’s undeniable chemistry allows the tracks to breathe, with Benedetti’s guitar often acting less like a solo instrument and more like a storyteller guiding the listener through shifting soundscapes.
The album’s origin story roots back to 1974, when Benedetti’s father was assigned to work in New York City. An avid amateur photographer and adventure-seeker, he captured a monumental mural painted on the Lower East Side of Manhattan by artists James Jannuzzi, Alfredo Hernandez, and Pedro Vidal Torado as part of the CityArts Workshop community mural movement. It was no easy feat for Benedetti to discover who was behind the painting of the mural. Determined to honor these artists’ work with the rollout of Slow Down for Turtles, his research unearthed a crucial online talk and book by author Jane Weissman called “On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City” where he immersed himself in the rich history of these urban art forms and their continued relevance today.
The mural — titled “New Birth” — depicts a vivid collision of worlds: lush natural landscapes on one side and the machinery of industrialization on the other. Central figures rise between the two realms, suggesting a fragile balance between environmental harmony and human progress. At the time, it was part of a broader movement of community murals across New York that addressed urgent social issues — housing, civil rights, cultural identity, and the emerging awareness of environmental destruction. The photograph would sit quietly in the Benedetti family archives for decades; until his parents digitized hundreds of slides and is now featured as the album artwork for Slow Down for Turtles.
“The more I looked at the mural, the more powerful the message feels,” Benedetti says. The imagery — nature colliding with industry — is eerily prescient in a world increasingly defined by environmental urgency. “What began as an act of caution by the artists has taken on a life of its own in my mind. It’s something much larger that I think others can connect with — a reminder to slow down and pay attention in a modern world of accelerating chaos.”
Website: https://www.lucabenedetti.com/
Tracks:
01. Okapi
02. Con Calma
03. Slow Down for Turtles
04. Tick Bomb
05. Lady Manatee
06. Mongaup
07. Same Price
08. Sweet Saru
09. Wattle Strut
10. Knucklehead
Luca Benedetti – Guitar
Tony Scherr – Bass
Tony Mason – Drums