Most pop songs speak of love, chronicling its triumphs and tears.
But not the songs of Neko Case.
On her last CD, 2009’s “Middle Cyclone,” she wrote from the point of view of vultures, magpies and tornadoes. In “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,” she sternly warned humans not to be lulled by Mother Nature “when she’s on her best behavior.” In “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” she identified with a killer whale who slaughtered its trainer, while in “This Tornado Loves You” she relished a wind that leaves people “motherless, fatherless, [with] their souls dancing inside out from the mouths.”
The new disc proves just as daunting and odd, even in its title — “The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.”
In “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu,” Case recounts a scene she saw of a mother assaulting her small child with lines like “get the f--- away from me” and “don’t you ever shut up?” In “Where Did I Leave That Fire?” she turns wryly surreal, likening her soul to some small item that got away from her when she wasn’t looking, while in “Man,” Case claims she’s more male than anyone lumbering around with a Y chromosome.
As aggressive, and even antisocial, as her perspective may be, it has hardly turned off fans. Case’s 2009 disc debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart, the highest position for an indie record that year. The new album has done well enough to earn Case a headlining gig this Thursday at Radio City Music Hall.
Case’s voice, and her way with a melody, has a lot to do with it. She sings with special richness and clarity, suggesting a nexus of Patsy Cline’s high arcs and Petula Clark’s golden tone.
Case’s music has borrowed from both star’s genres. Early in the Northwest-reared singer’s career she recorded country songs which, for a while, saddled her with a crude “alt-country” tag. Much of her later work drew on jangle-pop, suggesting a U.S. answer to one of the U.K.’s smartest, and most acerbic writers, Kirsty MacColl. Case also explored both styles in her work with the on-again/off-again indie-supergroup the New Pornographers.
The new CD features some of Case’s most spirited music and catchiest tunes. “Man” has a ticklish guitar hook and a soaring power pop melody, which the singer delivers with relish. “Bracing for Sunday” and “City Swans” put brisk beats behind sterling melodies.
By contrast, “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu” features a pristine a cappella vocal that makes the abusive subject matter even more chilling. While other songs on the disc can seem deliberately oblique, there’s a sharpness and beauty to Case’s vocals that tells us everything we need to know.
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