Album: Neko Case / Middle Cyclone

Artist: Neko Case

Album: Middle Cyclone

Until proven otherwise, a new release from Neko Case is a Major Event. For her last two albums, I started out sure she wouldn't be able to top her previous work, only to grow to realize just by how much she had. The real question is: how long can she keep getting better?

At a formal level, there are clear and obvious signs of growth. Though there are some songs that would fit comfortably on Blacklisted or Fox Confessor, it's clear that that Neko won't be limited or pigeonholed into replicating her previous sound. So this time, we get a bit less twang, and for the first time, it even seems like a bit of the New Pornographers are rubbing off on her, especially on the poppy harmonies of "I'm an Animal", a song about acknowledging our instincts and lusts, to the response: "you’re an animal too". In fact, in this album, Nature is seeping out all over the place, fecund and uncontainable. To the Byrds-y twang of "People Got a Lotta Nerve", Neko dresses down folks that would expect something other than instinct and animal nature from the Others.

There's a lot of of heady stuff in these lyrics, layers that seep out with further investigation. With her superb talent for collecting collaborators, her words are set in richly-jeweled fabrics. So, is this her best album? I'm not willing to commit to an answer yet, but it's damn good.

Track Picks: 3 - "People Got a Lotta Nerve", 9 - "Magpie to the Morning", 10 - "I'm an Animal"