The Fire in My Head

Years of traveling and relocating his family have given literary troubadour David Berkeley a longing sense of the world. That his books—140 Goats and a Guitar, The Free Brontosaurus—use his songs as their springboard, or vice-versa, further strengthens his reputation as a serious writer who's seeking something always just outside his reach. A cursory listen, however, to the beautifully but sparsely arranged songs from The Fire in My Head—his fifth studio album, recorded mostly live in two days—illustrates that melodies and the appropriate moods are as important as the right words. Songs such as “Shelter” and “I’m Coming Home” musically reflect an endless southwestern sky. The sharp, bare poetics reinforce the indelible moods, images, and experiences. The harmonies of “Broken Crown” and its subtle instrumentation work as hard as the lyrics, which is saying quite a bit for a songwriter who cites Yeats and Melville among his greatest influences.