The artist: Cobra Verde

The album: Haven’t Slept All Year (Scat)

The spin: Cleveland-based Cobra Verde has been a major draw in the Midwest for years. I first heard of them when Robert Pollard tabbed them to back him as Guided By Voices during the late 1990s, but their career has been long and strong. (Fans of the HBO series “True Blood” have likely heard their version of the Rolling Stones classic “Play With Fire”.) Their latest, Haven’t Slept All Year, shows off a solid bar band that tries to stretch out here and there. It works sometimes — like when lead singer John Petkovic delves into a Ray Davies-style song, “Home in the Highrise” — but not so much other times — like when he tries to become Van Morrison in “Wildweed”. Overall, Haven’t Slept All Year is good enough if you’re a fan already, but not so much if this is your first experience with Cobra Verde.

The grade: C