#new shadows

The album reflects the disruptive events of the last few years, in lyrics that describe a video funeral (“Sing”) and in others that mark the listless passage of time (“I know life ain’t a free ride, wash up, dishes are piling high, lost days, lost days” from “Lost Days”). The use of electronics may also be an artifact of that pandemic period where live collaboration became difficult; this may have lasted longer for DeCicca than other people, given some recent health troubles.

But also the pandemic opened up collaboration for a lot of artists, in ways that ignored physical proximity. I don’t know if that’s the case for this group of players, but they are a remarkably diverse group—two old hands from Los Lobos (David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin), a brace of new jazz tyros (James Brandon Lewis, Jeff Parker and Aquiles Navarro of Irresistible Entanglements) and the wonderful Rosali Middleton. They bring depth and color and human roughness to these unusually pristine electronic tracks. Listen, for instance, to the two sax players, Steve Berlin with his guttural, low-end swagger in “97 Nights,” Lewis more refined and fluid but just as soulful on contemplative “Lost Days.” Or consider the burning blues guitar licks that David Hidalgo adds to “Sing,” all smoke and sinew amid the synths and keyboards. He reminds me of prime era Mark Knopfler in the way he bends the notes and coaxes them to moan.

Yet fundamentally this is DeCicca’s show, and its success rides on his songwriting ability. Not to worry. “Angelina” is one of his finest songs ever, a still one full of darkness and yearning, and the curlicues of trumpets that Navarro adds amplify, but don’t overwhelm its gorgeous simplicity. “Manzanita Bay” is another good one, a little mournful as presented here, but you could imagine it turning into a sing-along stomper in other, less ruminative hands.

New Shadows is a bit of a departure, and its New Order-style goth-dance framing takes some getting used to. But it’s still DeCicca, still one of the best songwriters going, just through a different lens.