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Feb 24, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

On his recently released fourth album, Shadow Land, Nashville singer/songwriter Ben de la Cour conjures dark and dusty Americana, delivering haunted stories of murder, jealousy, and mental illness. De la Cour recalls the dark Southern gothic storytelling of Nick Cave and Tom Waits, adding his own atmospheric bluesy tone and rasped vocals, a sound he’s coined Americanoir. It’s a style that pulls from his own experience in the shadow lands, from his time as an amateur boxer playing in old punk haunts such as CBGBs to his run ins with the law and experiences with addiction. Following the 2020 record de la Cour has returned with the video for “Harmless Indian Medicine Blues,” premiering with Under the Radar.

De la Cour sets a menacing mood instantly, opening on droning vocals and a gritty blues guitar riff. De la Cour rasps out his scene-setting lyrics— “Opium dream / opium dream / I woke up dreaming from an opium dream.” He imparts haunted drug-addled visions, backed by smokey saxophone and the ever-constant tension of his central riff. It’s a dark and atmospheric trip through Southern gothic imagery and the desperate throes of addiction. The video hits a similar moody vibe, transitioning between nightime video of the band performing and disorienting rapid cuts of de la Cour in a dimly lit basement.

De la Cour says of the track, “We shot this video in my backyard and the director’s basement. It was a freezing cold night, especially for Tennessee, but we had a lot of fun. Or at least I did. Or at least I think I did. I had a good time in the basement too - anyone who knows me knows I’ll jump at any excuse to vomit blood. The imagery of this song came to me in a dream after reading “Ligeia” by Edgar Allan Poe. I woke up and ran to my kitchen table, wrote most of it down, and went back to bed. I didn’t really figure out what it was about until much later.” Watch the video below. Ben de la Cour’s Shadow Land is out now.