Every few years, the Texas-based, Ohio-raised former Black Swans leader Jerry David DeCicca emerges with a new batch of songs constructed in his own idiosyncratic style. DeCicca tends to write rugged folk-rock tunes with a peculiar slant, singing them in a blunt post-Dylan bleat. It turns out he’s still an unmistakable presence even when working in a different sonic milieu.

In September, DeCicca will follow 2020’s The Unlikely Optimist And His Domestic Adventures with a new album called New Shadows. It features appearances from an eclectic assortment of musicians including Aquilles Navarro of Irreversible Entanglements, David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Jeff Parker, Rosali, James Brandon Lewis, and Brian Harnetty. The title track delves deeper into synthesizers and digital voice alteration than I ever expected from a Jerry DeCicca project, lacing in saxophone and abundant guitar action too en route to on a sort of alternate-timeline ’80s movie soundtrack vibe. Under a pile of digital effects, he sings about finding new hiding places as a means of survival: “Getting lost has no cost/ When there’s no price for being gone.”

This excerpt from the album bio on Bandcamp sums it up nicely:

The production (by Don Cento and JDD) is modeled after DeCicca’s favorite early 80’s albums (Lindsey Buckingham’s Law & Order, ZZ Top’s Afterburner, Robert Palmer’s Clues, Lou Reed’s New Sensations,) while the songs’ architectures and pathos lean more towards Warren Zevon, Townes Van Zandt, and John Prine.

If that sounds like something you’d love — and it really ought to be — watch Kelsey Picolo’s “New Shadows” video below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “New Shadows”
02 “Manzanita Bay”
03 “Lost Days”
04 “Angelina”
05 “These Blues”
06 “When You Needed My Help”
07 “97 Nights”
08 “Walking Stick”
09 “Sing”
10 “Ivory Tower”

New Shadows is out 9/29. Pre-order it here.