On "Dead Eyes," South Carolina-born, Nashville-based guitarist Adia Victoria is spoiling for a fight that she knows she's going to win. Her guitar's steady lope evokes an impatient hoof scraping the dust, and when she tells someone, "I've seen the sun rise and set on you," she sounds imperious and all-knowing. She has the measure of this person who renounces God but believes in the sun's redemption, and they might as well give it up already.

Taken from her forthcoming debut album Beyond the Bloodhounds (produced by Roger Moutenot), "Dead Eyes" conjures a bar-room brawl from sparking guitar and choogling organ. Meanwhile, Victoria delights in lording her power with a spirited, almost comic performance, veering between seriousness and faux-incensed yelps. Whoever's telling her she looks dead behind the eyes underestimates the force of the fire raging there.