Although we just got the CD yesterday, I’d been listening to Neko Case’s new album
Noel Murray’s review pretty much nails it, but Jon Pareles’ review in the New York Times deserves a quotation:
On the surface Ms. Case’s songs qualify as alt-country or Americana. The production often harks back to 1960s and ’70s rock, backing her concise melody lines with finger-picked acoustic guitars or twang and reverb. But surreal, unexpected sounds — echoes, voices, noise — well up within those arrangements. Her version of Harry Nilsson’s whimsically fatalistic “Don’t Forget Me” becomes a lofty expanse of choral voices and multiple pianos.
Her own songs melt down structures. Instead of fixed verses or choruses there are two-chord patterns that run as long as Ms. Case wants, or as short; they might add or subtract a beat, suddenly switch chords or support an entirely new tune in mid-song. Subliminally that rhapsodic approach keeps the songs off balance and suspenseful, ready for every possibility of disaster or exaltation.
If you haven’t joined the Cult of Case, this album is a pretty damn decent introduction to its rewards.
And there’s also a promotional “making of” video to watch.
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