Neko Case
Blacklisted
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Neko Case
Blacklisted
Bloodshot, 2002
RiYL: Kelly Hogan, Silver Jews, Lambchop |
Maybe it's her suddenly amazing voice control, expressing a newfound range that the Chicago-based songstress had yet to truly display on her first two full-lengths, 1997's The Virginian and 2000's Furnance Room Lullaby. Or maybe it's the haunting calm and peculiar stillness that embodies the music; dark, quiet, and gloomy as it is.
Or perhaps it's the leaps and bounds by which she surpasses the already lofty plateaus she reached with her earlier work, presenting an album so starkly different and mature that it's a wonder that it's the same singer. And that's not to say her earlier albums were bad, they just pale in comparison to Blacklisted.
But maybe it's just the simplicity the overall album presents. No drum loops, no wacked-out keyboards, or anything else that could get in the way of the music. Hell, this is about as stark and empty as an album could be, yet it seems that this emptiness actually makes the album more powerful, no doubt helped by Neko's formative vocal talents. Blacklisted is the kind of album that needs no apologies and, to paraphrase a former president, it simply is what it is. And that doesn't depend on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
The album marks a huge step for Case, a well-traveled musician who didn't start playing music until she was 18. After toiling in a few punk bands in the early '90s, Case, whose vocal training consisted of singing along to gospel and country records, discovered her own powerful voice and started playing with country musicians.
Her first album, The Virginian, was a solid-if-not-unspectacular debut consisting a few gems ("Lonely Old Lies") as well as a few rough spots ("High On Cruel"). Much of the album consisted of predictable cover tunes, as it was clear Case was still learning her trade.
Things improved drastically with Furnace Room Lullaby, as Case wrote more tunes and started developing a more mature approach to writing. Again, the album had its bright spots -- notably the beautiful "Porchlight" and the title track -- but she had yet to fully develop as a writer and musician.
That all changed last year with Canadian Amp, a limited-edition 8-song EP. Although the songs were mostly covers, Case displayed a vocal range and confidence that blew away her previous efforts. The disc was simple enough, a mostly acoustic -- almost gothic -- folk record. But perhaps the bare elements brought out the best in Neko, as her voice simply soars throughout the record.
And that soaring voice and bare-elements approach is felt throughout Blacklisted, an album that also demonstrates that somewhere along the way, Neko learned how to really write some powerful songs.
On her previous material, Neko performed mainly covers or wrote with a bevy of musicians. Not so on Blacklisted. Save the opener "The Things That Scare Me" and two covers, Blacklisted is 100% Neko Case. And that's a damn good thing. The aforementioned "The Things That Scare Me" sets the tone for the album. In the gloomy, rollicking nod to Appalachian traditional folk, Case delves into the darker side of Americana:
"The hammer clicks in place / The world's gonna pay / Right down in the face of God, and his saints / Who claim your soul is not for sale / I'm a dying breed / Hunted by American dreams."
She pulls in the reins on her voice in the next tune, another murky song telling the tale of a wanderer searching for his soul. "Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag / Past empty lots and early graves of those like you who've lost their way / murdered on the interstate / while the red bells rang like thunder," she intones.
While the album doesn't contain any true clunkers, it is not without its imperfections. But ironically, it is the two covers -- "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" and "Runnin' Out of Fools" -- that are the album's biggest downers. Nearly all of Case's original material is terrific, with only one or two numbers ("Stinging Velvet" and "Pretty Girls") keeping the album from becoming an instant classic.
Blacklisted is certainly a high-water mark for Case; a statement, if you will. And perhaps she describes her muse better than any critic can in her strongest track, the soothing "Tightly:" "When I'm walking under trees / I'm free to covet all I please / New moon's in the alley / and its madness ... calls to me."
It's not to say Neko's mad, or crazy, it's just that she's pushing herself pretty hard, and she's not about to stop. "But don't you try to stop me," she continues in "Tightly". "I cling tightly ... to this life."
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.