While his name might not be the single most memorable in music at first (Dave Tough was also the name of a well-known jazz drummer in Dixieland and Swing era of the Thirties and Forties), it would be hard to overlook Dave Tough's voice after hearing this seven-inch. The singer had already made a pretty impressive mark on the Roots scene with the Silver Hearts but, all alone and singing as tentatively and quietly as he is here, those who hear him are guaranteed to never forget him; in two songs, Tough leaves a truly indelible impression.
The A-side of this single gets the going started in a surprisingly uncommon way (read: not a blistering single) with an incredibly candid country ballad called “Fortune's Wheel.” There's no easy way to explain it, but Tough somehow seems to gently stop time with this first song and hold listeners amazed as light pedal steel and even more lightly brushed drums surround lines like “I could tell you about my weekend/ That's what it was – it's a party, it's some downtime, it's a breather/ It blew me apart like a supernova and left me on the bathroom floor/ Feeling dirty, trying to scrape myself clean” and paint the portrait of a man who may be utterly defeated or may be dead or may have suffered a nervous breakdown. At first there's no way to tell what happened to the man in the song, but the melody is so sweet and the music is so perfectly cathartic and accessible that listeners will rush into it to find out. They'll want to know what caused this man's collapse, and Tough recounts the story of summer heartache as well as the coldness left in the aftermath of it. Their hearts will ache for Tough as he makes it clear in his performance that the hurt of the memory hasn't faded, and they'll feel it in their bone marrow when the singer begins to moan as the song winds down. Listeners will share in the singer's resignation then, but will be surprised when the song closes on a major chord instead of one of the minor ones which drove the song. That simple turn seems fantastic; that major chord is the light at the end of the tunnel.
Because that last chord totally changes the impression that this single's A-side leaves, flipping it over feels like a poetic act in its own right; and “Feel Like I'm Falling Down” substantiates that by seeming to offer a warmer emotional beginning which warms hearts easily, by extension. Through “Feel Like I'm Falling Down,” Tough mimics Paul Simon's purgative lyrical style beautifully (think Graceland and you'll have an idea) as he confesses his undying devotion to the love of his life (the title lyric says it all) and the way descending guitar figures fall like twinkling stars around that vocal is absolutely beguiling; as this single's B-side ends, listeners will be shocked to find a warm satisfied feeling in the pits of their stomachs, and restart the side again for just a little more of that sensation. That's when they'll know Dave Tough's name, and keep an eye out for his name in the future.
Artist:
www.davetough.bandcamp.com/
www.seventhfirerecords.com/artists/dave-tough/
Single:
Dave Tough's Seventh Fire 7F series single is out now. Buy it here , direct from Seventh Fire Records.
