FEATURE:
Vinyl Corner
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
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HAVING recently listened to…
her fifth studio album, Hell-On (2018), I have been looking back at other albums from Neko Case. I started to listen to 2009’s Middle Cyclone and was really blown away by it! A superb album from the Alternative Country singer-songwriter, it was her first album in three years. I love all of Case’s various projects – including case/lang viers and The New Pornographers. I feel her solo work is equally strong and potent. Middle Cyclone, as the title suggests, features images of tornadoes and nature. One of the best things about the album is the guess that feature on it. Including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, Kurt Heasley of Lilys, and Giant Sand, it is an album that includes so many great musicians, singers and contributors. A sensational album that people should get on vinyl, do make sure that you check out Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone. Case’s gorgeous and hugely rich voice scores songs of heartache and beauty. There are lighter moments and a wide range of topics addressed. Before I wrap things up, I want to bring together a couple of reviews that praise Middle Cyclone. This is what AllMusic noted in their review:
“Neko Case looks formidable on the cover of Middle Cyclone, brandishing a sword in one hand while crouching low on the hood of a muscle car. It's mostly camp, of course -- the sort of superwoman image that Quentin Tarantino might have used for Death Proof's ad campaign -- but it also draws contrast with Case's past albums, two of which featured moody shots of the songwriter sprawled on the floor, ostensibly knocked out. Middle Cyclone isn't the polar opposite of Blacklisted's downcast Americana; there are still moments of heartbreak on this release, and Case channels the sad cowgirl blues with all the nuance of Patsy Cline.
Multiple years in the New Pornographers' lineup have brightened her outlook, though, and Middle Cyclone balances its melancholia with some of the most pop-influenced choruses of Case's career. "I'm a man-man-maneater," she sings on "People Got a Lotta Nerve," a snappy gem of vocal harmonies and jangled guitars. The mammal metaphors continue with "I'm an Animal," where a coed choir hums a wordless, hooky refrain. These songs are still filled with earth tones -- they may even pitch their tent closer to the folk camp than Carl Newman's power pop -- but their venture into brighter territory is a confident one.
Of course, Neko Case already explored the animal world with 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and Middle Cyclone devotes more time to weather, nature, and the stormy atmospherics provided by her backup band. There are few voices as haunting as Case's alto, and she flaunts her vocal chops over a number of semi-ballads, from the cinematic "Prison Girls" (a country-noir love letter to someone with "long shadows and gunpowder eyes") to the sparse title track. She does a surprise duet with chirping birds during "Polar Nettles" -- a result of the pastoral recording sessions, which took place in a barn -- before tackling a cover of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth," whose title very well may be the album's mission statement. There's still room to tackle love from the perspective of different characters -- a man in "Vengeance Is Sleeping," a disbeliever in "The Next Time You Say Forever," a smitten wind vortex in "This Tornado Loves You" -- but nature remains at the forefront of Middle Cyclone, whose 14 songs conclude with a half-hour field recording of noisy crickets and frogs. Moody and engaging throughout, Cyclone is another tour de force from Neko Case, if not as immediately arresting as Fox Confessor”.
The second review that caught my eye is from The A.V. Club. They observe that, whilst Middle Cyclone is more fragmented than some of her other albums, it is a wonderful record – and its half-hour closer, Marais la Nuit, is especially brave and bold:
“While some musicians progress in leaps, Neko Case tends to move in increments. But she does move. Case’s albums have remained consistently strong over the years, even as she’s stepped away from her traditionalist alt-country roots and towards more idiosyncratic twangy pop. Her latest, Middle Cyclone, is in the same exploratory mode as 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, as Case tries to discover what she can eke out of just a little shimmer, some elliptical lyrics, and her big, yelping voice. Middle Cyclone doesn’t sound substantially different from the album than what preceded it, yet it’s far removed from her 1997 debut, The Virginian.
In fact, it’s hard to imagine what the Case of 12 years ago would make of Middle Cyclone’s opener, “This Tornado Loves You,” which rushes along like a gust of wind that keeps changing direction. The song is about being tossed about by forces you can’t understand—but that understand you—and in a way, it’s a metaphor for how Case works these days. She’s more intuitive and less genre-bound.
Because of that intuitive approach, Middle Cyclone is more fragmented than Fox Confessor. The album takes its lead from the off-the-cuff methodology of Harry Nilsson, whose yearning, smart-ass ballad “Don’t Forget Me” Case covers beautifully here. Case feels untethered enough to close the record with 30 minutes of chirping crickets, and to defend the predatory nature of killer whales, and to perform a straight-faced version of Sparks’ the-ecology-can-ruin-you anthem “Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth.” All of Middle Cyclone is reliably Case-like, in that it seems unpredictable, unless you’ve listened to Case long enough to understand what she understands: that following fleeting impulses can be as rewarding as it is dangerous”.
I would recommend that people buy a copy of Middle Cyclone if they do not own it. If not, go and stream the album. It is a reliably amazing and evocative album from one of the most consistent artists and songwriters in the world. I have listened to Middle Cyclone a few times recently and, each time I come back, I discover something new. It is a record that blossoms and unveils fresh discovery every time. If you are new to the wonders and brilliance of Neko Case, I can definitely recommend that you listen to…
THE brilliant Middle Cyclone.