Remember that girl you sat next to in sixth grade? She always wrote poetry and drew weird pictures when she wasn’t staring out the window.
That girl probably listens to Neko Case, and so should you.
Case’s prolific songwriting career includes eight solo albums as well as another four with the band The New Pornographers since 1997. Her sharp and pointed voice mirrors the smart and intimate lyrics that seem to roll effortlessly from her.
Her early career forays into more traditional sounding country music brought comparisons to Patsy Cline.
Her more recent efforts have expanded out into more socially interesting worlds. Case takes chances, which means she sometimes stumbles and falls. She gets away with this because her failures are more interesting than most artists masterworks.
“Middle Cyclone” finds Case again defying easy classification. Pinning a genre on this shape shifting work proves difficult. These songs haunt and hover with a childlike air and wonder. Case moves from line to line in a beautifully haphazard, yet methodical way. The songs move wherever they please, not shackled by attempts to sound like someone else or tap into key demographics.
The title track blends voice and guitar perfectly, complete with angelic backing vocals and what sounds like a toy piano solo. The song grabs the listener and sinks its teeth in. “Just for a chance to be a spider web trapped in your lashes/for that I would trade you my empire for ashes/but I choke it back, how much I need love.”
“Poor Nettles” shifts tempo and theme. Case sometimes walks a tightrope where it seems as if she might slip and fall at any moment to a gruesome and awful artistic death. The successful payoff from these risks far outweighs any stumbling.
Case speaks to a very specific audience. Not everyone will be able to digest it, but those who do will be rewarded greatly.