Dave Cloud and the Gospel of Power - Fever

Dave Cloud might now resemble an off-season Santa Claus, but his sound is anything but festive. The portly, bearded Nashville veteran is in the vein of mysterious and idiosyncratic American singer/songwriters: Steve Earle, Tom Waits, Gram Parsons. This, his fourth album, comes across like a gruff Beefheart duetting with an even gruffer version of himself. He’s been described as “shamanic” in the past, almost suggesting he doesn’t so much write this music, it flows through him: the tradition of musician as conduit to an underworld of blues, country and rock n’ roll. Fever takes this sound and imagines the Deep South through psychedelic eyes: along endless, dusty highways, through forgotten towns and into smoky basements. Like Beefheart, it might be a bit visionary for some, but more accessible is a cover of The Citadel, which takes the Stones’ sordid drawl to undiscovered depths.