Neko Case clearly knows how amazing she is. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood shows an even more confident artist than 2002's classic Blacklisted. Maybe it was the critical acclaim of that album, or maybe it is her work with indie pop outfit The New Pornographers. Whatever the case, Case belts her way through 12 tracks on Fox Confessor, and each one showcases her best singing and writing to date.
Most people identify Case with classic female singers—Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, et al—rather than modern country or indie rock singers. Her rich, powerful voice remains the focus of this comparison, and rightly so, given how impressive her vocals always are.
But perhaps even more impressive are the themes and tone of Case's albums. She understands that a true pathos wrapped in expressive lyrics was at the core of that classic country music, and she goes about doing the same with her own modern perspective.
Album opener Margaret vs. Pauline\ establishes early on that Case's songwriting has evolved yet again. The song is about two girls—one rich, one poor—and rollicks along while Case sings phrases like ""Margaret is the fragments of a name / Her bravery is mistaken for the thrashing in a lake / by a make-believe monster whose picture is fake."" Case manages to roll such phrases off the tongue with ease, painting bleak, confusing pictures of life.
The hollowed-out instrumentation on ""Dirty Knife"" produces her darkest song to date. Case's voice hangs in the air, echoing uncomfortably as she sings ""So suddenly the madness came / with its whiskered wolven ease of pains / He locked the door and he shut blinds."" This convoluted story, like most on Fox Confessor, may confuse the listener; but as Case's lyrics twist and turn, her voice, instrumentation and phrasing capture her emotions perfectly.
Title track ""Fox Confessor Brings the Flood,"" inspired by a Russian folk tale, disturbs with phrases such as ""It's not for you to know / but for you to weep and wonder / when the death of your civilization precedes you.""
""A Widow's Toast"" is the most haunting song on Fox Confessor, opening with Case a cappella singing, ""Specters move like pilot flames / their widows toast at St. Angel / Better times collide with now / the tears were warm, I feel them still.""
Of course, Fox Confessor succeeds so wildly only because Case has moved beyond Patsy Cline imitations—she uses an old sound to do new, amazing tricks. Packed with dense instrumentation and lyrical complexity, the album unravels with each listen, until one is convinced it must be one of the best that will come out this year. Few know how to craft painful country ballads better than Case, and her songwriting growth is present throughout Fox Confessor. Each line is sung with such passion you have to wonder how long Case can put out her brand of alt-country before she's emotional exhausted.
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