Indie country songbird belts out hit record

By: Krystal Bick

Monday, March 9, 2009 - 11:43 PM

On the cover of Neko Case’sÂ latest album “Middle Cyclone,”the Virginia singer and alternative country pioneer sits poised ready to pounce, holding a sword atop a 1970s muscle car. At first glance, it’s anything but country music-esque.

But at first listen the country is clearly there. The 15-track CD promises a piano orchestra (recorded in her Vermont barn nonetheless) and bands Calexico and M. Ward accompany her signature twangy vocals, that seem to haunt with a timbre like a cross between Dolly Parton and Feist.

Her 2006 album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”showcased her range of musical hats, including anything from Southern gospel to folksy country pop.

“Middle Cyclone”seemingly picks up where “Flood”left off, the entire album revolving around, yes, love songs (how very country of her), but love songs about animals and nature that she personifies herself as (cue the indie side of her).

The first song, “This Tornado Loves You,”sets a nice tone for following tracks. Fast-paced guitar plucking, reminiscent of a backcountry chase, make the track almost as untamable as the tornado she likens her love to.

Case keeps up her feistiness in the next track, “The Next Time You Say Forever,”in which she sounds more like Amy Winehouse than Faith Hill, singing over violin strings “the next time you say forever/I’ll punch you in your face.”

In both “People Got a Lot of Nerve”and “Vengeance is Sleeping,”Case adopts even more analogies. In the former song, she labels herself a killer whale and in the latter song she anthropomorphizes love into an animal that must be tracked and dragged back home.

While such original material is more than enough to make this CD genuine, Case’s cover of Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me”is by far one of the more resonating versions that has come about in recent years.

Other notable tracks, perhaps the best on the CD, include “I’m an Animal”and “Red Tide.”Both pack the most punch, even while being below the three-minute mark.

In “I’m an Animal,”Case sings “I’m an animal/and you’re an animal too”but it’s how she hauntingly drawls out “animal”over an electric guitar riff that leaves chills. “Red Tide”plays off of her country side, the premise of the song being more of a story. But it’s how she weaves in “chainsaws,”"mollusks”and “dog hair in the heater”that surprise and captivate like a strange fairy tale.

Concluding the album is “Marais La Nuit,”a 31-minute track of birds and crickets chirping, which in itself is much like the quiet after the storm Case weaves for her listeners.

But with such beautiful force in her tremulous yet powerful vocals and unconventionally poignant song structures, perhaps the storm itself is Neko Case.