The Black Swans

8 p.m. Sunday, January 9. Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 South Jefferson Avenue.

Jan 6, 2011 at 4:00 am

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Jerry DeCicca is the whispering voice and gloomy vision behind Columbus, Ohio's the Black Swans. And just when you think he needs a rock & roll jolt — lest the slo-core nap become a coma — DeCicca jams his existential folk into an ungrounded socket and lets discord do its worst. If disorientation is the goal, then consider the Black Swans' mission accomplished. On the band's finest release, 2007's Change!, DeCicca distills his bipolar approach into a kind of detwanged Lambchop or an orchestrated Palace Brothers. (The band has worked with Will Oldham.) Brilliant (and sadly late) violin player Noel Sayre has the full run of DeCicca's melodies, carrying him through songs concerned about the precipitous loss of identity — the kind brought about by merciless introspection.