Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
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Artist: Neko CaseBrand: CASE,NEKO
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Model: 045778677726
Music Label: Anti
Soundtracks:
- Margaret Vs. Pauline - Neko Case
- Star Witness - Neko Case
- Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
- A Widow's Toast - Neko Case
- That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case
- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
- John Saw That Number
- Dirty Knife
- Lion's Jaws
- Maybe Sparrow
- At Last
- The Needle Has Landed
Music reviews of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Music Review: "Down this chain of days, I wish to stay among my people."
Rating: 5 Stars
This CD didn't grab me at first -- but somehow, I kind of knew right from the start that it would. I got it to my car. The first song ("Margaret vs. Pauline") started, the music starts off with some innocent strumming, and then all at once hits the most haunting chord progression -- not the innocent kind of anthem I expected from anything with "country" in its description. That's what sat sour the first couple listens: the chord progressions did what they wanted, the songs seemed ready to conform to expectations but then didn't, the melodies changed at will, the production was shimmering and almost too-clean.... It's awkward at first, like a first date or something; it's later that these things precisely, these incongruities, mold it into perfection........
It's all right there, in that first most-unpredictable song, though; all the complexities and paradoxes that come together to, after a little adjusting, make this album a collective masterpiece. First there's the voice: spectacular, evocative, emotive....... Almost too good, at first; the kind of voice that breeds walking puppets, like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. It anticipates flimsy songwriting propped up by indiscriminate wailing -- another cliché of music that is hard to get past at first. Only here, it is used for its own devices... with a nostalgia and respect for tradition, but a startling independence to go with it that gives weight to every note.
Then there are the lyrics which give the voice that weight. Like any good country, they tell stories; only these stories, like the voice, embrace the tradition but leave out the stereotypes. "Margaret and Pauline" for instance: a "story" miles removed from one too many at the bar. Case, instead, uses the voice to give the imagery of two women, "rivals" who probably don't even know each other: one a sex goddess, the other luckless. The lyrics, superficially, say nothing: "The girl with the parking lot eyes / Margaret is the fragments of a name." But emotively, they say everything a create an image that seems to go right to the heart of the matter. Along with the wonderful line of the hard-luck girl's (who had three fingers chopped off) bravery and courage being turned into a spectacle, as fake pictures of the Lochness monster. Who can't relate to stuff like that? It's so profoundly human...... there is nothing political here (I think the religious song is a wonderful touch, on that note), just slightly skewed stories about people and living, and capturing all of the depth of living.
The music is next. It is silky clean, also in the country tradition. Here, indeed, it takes the best of country: relaxed instruments giving each other space, nothing frantic nor hurried nor self-serving about any of it. But, as not really a country fan, this is one aspect of the CD that I did not like at first, until I observed how well it suited Case; how much space it gave to her voice and imagery, how it created a perfect backdrop, like a scene at a musical. But where the music itself is calm, the songwriting is incredibly adventurous for "country." The songs go wherever they want. This is frustrating at first, as it seems to undermine fluidity; but in the long run, after a number of listens, comes the ability to anticipate the changes...... then they no longer throw one off, but do what they are supposed to: give the album a vibrancy, and an ability to adapt and not get bogged down in melodies that lose their spark -- even within a song.
Out of this whole a few highlights stand out ("State Witness," "Hold On, Hold On," etc), But ultimately, it's great songs contributing to an eclectic whole, with songs that stand well both alone and in the wider context. The time spent assembling this masterpiece was well used.
One moment kind of sums of the perfection of this album, the perfect mix of tradition and innovation, for me. It's in the two-chord ballad "At Last". Case sings some gorgeous lines ("Down this chain of days, I wish to stay among my people") and dares death to meet her, not denying that she would be in fear of it, but not bending either. Ordinarily, a powerful song. But it becomes a spectacular song when an electric guitar joins her acoustic and hits the most awful, out of place note........ and yet the two-chords of the guitar plow on through it and regain the drive times five.
Some artists go out to destroy tradition. Some add to tradition, make it even deeper.
Description of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Neko is a major poet by any standard, a songwriter less interested perhaps in traditional narrative form than in distilling a pure moment of time. She claims no genre, nor utilizes any classic formula for her songs and singing. More than anything she thrives in the spaces in between her music. After two years in the making, "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" is in many ways the sum total of her journey.Nine seconds into her first studio album since 2002's Blacklisted, and there it is. You can't miss it. The voice. Instantly recognizable and uniquely commanding, it has been uniformly overlooked by the masses and beloved by those who have caught on. And, believe it or not, it gets even better, whether Neko Case is warbling like a porch-swing neighbor to Loretta Lynn ("Margaret vs. Paulene," "John Saw That Number"), pontificating from the spiritual pulpit of Etta James ("Lion's Jaws," "Maybe Sparrow"), or unleashing the high-octane zeal of a power-pop spitfire ("Hold On Hold On," "The Needle Has Landed"). Her uncanny, often eccentric lyrics have always been delivered with an inherent passion behind the impulse, but rarely have they approached the boldness of these dozen--many of which were inspired by generations of tales from her Ukrainian ancestors. As usual, Case's industry running buddies collaborate to make the sounds behind her, from Calexico to Howe Gelb of Giant Sand to the Band's renowned Garth Hudson. Still, it all comes back to the voice, that serenading urgency that asks in the title song, "How can people not know what beauty this is?" Yes, there are some to ask, how not? --Scott Holter
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 Furnace Room Lullaby |  Blacklisted |  The Tigers Have Spoken |
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