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Written by Jen Owens
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Wednesday, 20 May 2009 |
 The eclectic Neko Case. Photo courtesy of NekoCase.com.
Case’s earlier albums (The Virginian, Furnace Room Lullaby and my favorite, Blacklisted) have a haunting country-noir style peppered with a bit of blues. Her songs are best played at 3 a.m. while rocking on a front porch and holding a mason jar filled with an adult beverage. She blazes through murder ballads, up-tempo vengeance songs and melancholy tunes about lost love. "Deep Red Bells” and “Lady Pilot” are both terrifying and awe-inspiring. In later albums (the live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood and her latest, Middle Cyclone), Case leans toward folk-pop. There are occasional songs about death (“Star Witness”) and even a gospel number ("John Saw That Number"), but these albums have a distinct focus on nature. Songs are written from the perspective of animals and acts of nature. "People Got A Lotta Nerve” from Middle Cyclone is a catchy tune about a killer whale. “This Tornado Loves You” is the best song you’ll hear this year about a love-sick twister (unless The Decemberists write one, then we’ll have some competition). My favorite song on the record is the plaintive cover of Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me” with Case commanding a piano orchestra. Case is known for making others’ songs her own, and this is no exception. It is simply brilliant.
Case could be explained as a wild hybrid of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dusty Springfield, and Exene Cervenka; she’s an original and has one of the finest voices I’ve ever heard. When I saw her perform solo two years ago, I don’t think I moved three inches the entire time. Her voice is that mesmerizing. She can whisper a melancholy tune or belt out a barn-burner. So this year at Bonnaroo, check out Neko Case – you might be surprised by what you see and hear.
[Gibson, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone2, Front Page Image Courtesy of Neko Case official Web site]
Jen Owens, a TheSequitur.com contributor, is a systems analyst in northeast Tennessee by day, and a quasi-writer and music lover by night. |
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Nice sory... Neko Case is wonderful.
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