THE BLACK SWANS Limited Edition Vinyl * East Coast Dates Announced!

This video features members of Arc North Workshop in the process of painting album jackets for Change! by The Black Swans. Arc North is a sheltered art workshop, a branch of Franklin County Board of MRDD. They provide services for 300 adults with developmental challenges and recognize their talents by offering an environment that reinforces their confidence and self expression.

The limited edition vinyl version (LSE 007.5) features original, one of a kind artwork by workshop members who applied their expression to 500 blank album jackets.

The original album cover painting, Untitled, is by Debbie Porchetti, a member of Arc North Workshop.

Here, beside you, is the slow-burning new album by The Black Swans, Change!. With nods to Charles Simic, the Left Banke, and Fred Neil, it is their most melodic and emotionally diverse music yet.

Whereas their debut, Who Will Walk in the Darkness with You? (2004), dove deep into the pond of existential doubt, and their self-released follow-up EP, Sex Brain (2006) examined the tragi-comic throes of intimacy, Change! deals in reconciliation and reconstruction of the spirit and self.

Heavy shit, it also includes the sounds of apple eating (“Purple Heart”) and word-less David Lynch style doo-wop (“Blue Moon #9”).

You see my bones
My coat is shed
Peel away the past
The epidermal dead
(from “Coats”)

It was recorded in the guitar player’s living room, mixed in the drummer’s basement, and mastered by Rob LoVerde (Springsteen and Dylan vinyl) at Sony Studios. As in the past, The Black Swans feature the broken broodings of songwriter/singer/guitarist, Jerry DeCicca and the classical, Appalachian swoop of Noel Sayre’s violin. To fund the finishing touches, DeCicca took a job for 3 months as an afternoon DJ at a strip club.

It is important to note the album cover painting, Untitled, by Debbie Porchetti, a member of Arc North Workshop. Arc North is a sheltered art workshop, a branch of Franklin County Board of MRDD. They provide services for 300 adults with developmental challenges and recognize their talents by offering an environment that reinforces their confidence and self expression. The limited edition vinyl version (LSE 007.5) features original, one of a kind artwork by workshop members who applied their expression to 500 blank album jackets.

Too, DeCicca recently co-produced the first new recordings in 30 years by former Monument recording artist Larry Jon Wilson (featured in the documentary Heartworn Highways). This new material will be released in the UK in early 2008 via 1965 Records / Sony.

Raw, pretty, and contrary, Change! is an earful.

Players:

Jerry DeCicca (acoustic guitar, vocals, electric guitar on “Purple Heart” ), Canaan Faulkner (bass, backing vocals), Chris Forbes (electric guitar, tenor guitar, backing vocals), Keith Hanlon (drums, percussion), Noel Sayre (violin, viola), Amy Alwood (backing vocals), Joe Peppercorn (piano)

Change! Tracklist:
New Face
Hope Island
Coats
Only be With You
Shake
Purple Heart
Fruitless Ways
Blue Moon #9
3 Broken Words
Slide on Down
Change
3 Chord Song

The Black Swans Live!
Sep 20 2007 Casa Cantina Athens, Ohio
Sep 21 2007 CAfe Bourbon St. Columbus, Ohio
Sep 29 2007 Grimey’s Fall Par-tay! Nashville, Tennessee
Oct 16 2007 Red and Black Bar Washington DC w/ Brandon L. Butler and John Bustine
Oct 17 2007 La Societe Expeditionnaire CMJ Showcase at Union Pool Brooklyn, New York w/ Moon + Moon, Lewis & Clarke, Strand of Oaks, Dragon Turtle
Oct 18 2007 Sound Fix Record Store FREE Brooklyn, New York w/ O'Death and Lewis & Clarke
Oct 19 2007 Pete’s CAndy Store Brooklyn, NY
Oct 20 2007 Test Pattern Scranton, Pennsylvania w/ Lewis & Clarke
Oct 25 2007 Schubas Chicago, Illinois w/ His Name is Alive
Oct 26 2007 Daytrotter recording session Rock Island, Illinois
Oct 26 2007 Surly Girl Cd Release Columbus, Ohio w/ Bird and Flower
Nov 2 2007 Yeah, Me Too Coffee LP jackets/ARC art opening Columbus, Ohio
Nov 14 2007 JD gives Bob Dylan lecture at Ohio State Columbus, Ohio
Nov 16 2007 Unitarian Church Chapel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania w/ Lewis & Clarke
Nov 18 2007 Cake Shop Brooklyn, New York w/ Michael Hurley

For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/theblackswans
www.la-soc.com