Neko Case is my perfect woman, honest to god. She started out drumming in punk bands in Vancouver in the early nineties and by 1997, had realised she can write and sing okay, and recorded “The Virginian” with a backing band known as “Her Boyfriends”. Skip ahead to 2009, and you'll find Case has come a long way, with six full-length albums, one EP, one live disc and vocal contributions on four albums by Canadian band the New Pornographers under her large-buckled and stylish belt.
Not to mention the fact that she once got banned from the Grand Ole Opry for taking her shirt off, or that she appears on the front cover of her latest offering, “Middle Cyclone” crouched on the bonnet of a 1968 Ford Mercury Cougar, barefoot, brandishing a large sword and looking like a totally righteous babe.
Lyrically, this album is the most refreshing thing I've heard in ages. Lines like “can't scrape together quite enough/to ride the bus to the ouskirts of the fact that I need love”, on the title track provide a glimmer of hope in a world where Kelly Clarkson can release a hit single with a title like “My Life Would Suck Without You”.
Interesting fact: Neko Case featured on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force last year and is expected to participate in a new series with ATHF co-creator Dave Willis entitled “Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge”. Awesome.
On a just as fantabulous, but not quite as sugar-encrusted note, someone once referred to her as “the ghost of Patsy Cline”, and on “Prison Girls” things get noir and desolate much like, but unfortunately not quite as much as most of her 2002 release, “Blacklisted”. Once again though, she gets the words just right with “I love your long shadows/And your gunpowder eyes”. Cue swooning.
My personal favourite though, would have to be the opener, “This Tornado Loves You”, where the band gets down with a slightly faster pace, a little bit of delay on the guitars and Case delivers this piece of genius – “I have waited with a glacier's patience/Smashed every transformer with every trailer/'Til nothing was standing”. Now that's what I call a passionate natural disaster.
Like on her last album, “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood”, Case's well worn-in touring band lay down the bones of the songs. Unlike last time though, Middle Cyclone features guests like M. Ward, members of the New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, Giant Sand, and includes two covers: Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" and Harry Nilsson's “Don't Forget Me”. The recording of M.C. happened in Brooklyn, Vermont, Toronto and Case's own barn in Tuscon, which led to some tracks featuring guests such as Frogs, Robins and Wind Gusts.
Neko Case has also recently featured on a New Pornographers song, “Hey, Snow White”, which can be found on a compilation put out by 4AD and AIDS organisation 'Red Hot', called “Dark Was The Night”. I highly recommend you check that out if this is your cup of tea.
She's been touring Middle Cyclone in Europe before returning to the US, but sadly, Case shows no signs of intending to drop in on New Zealand. Buy this album, then report to me to sign the petition.
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