Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 03/03/2009
Run Time: 0:00
Neko Case looks formidable on the cover of
Middle Cyclone, brandishing a sword in one hand while crouching low on a muscle car's hood. It's mostly camp, of course -- the sort of superwoman image
Quentin Tarantino might have used for
Death Proof's ad campaign -- but it also draws contrast with the songwriter's previous albums, two of which featured moody shots of
Case 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 rustic nuance of
Patsy Cline. Multiple years in
the New Pornographers' employ have considerably brightened her outlook, however, and
Middle Cyclone balances its melancholia with some of the most pop-oriented choruses of
Case's career. "I'm a man-man-maneater," she asserts during
"People Got a Lotta Nerve," a snappy nugget of harmonies and jangled guitar that helps strengthen her Mercury Cougar-riding cover pose. The mammal metaphors continue with
"I'm an Animal," where a coed choir supports the melody with a wordless, hooky refrain. Such songs are still rife with earth tones, perhaps preferring the Southern comfort of roots music to the sparkle of
Carl Newman's power pop, but their venture into brighter territory is both assured and tuneful.
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 of her backup band. There are few voices as hauntingly beautiful as
Case's alto, a siren call fashioned from country's might and pop's melody, and she trains those tones 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 offering up a cover of
Sparks'
"Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth," which 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 chirping crickets and frogs. Moody, cinematic, and engaging throughout,
Cyclone is another
tour de force from
Neko Case, if not as immediately arresting as
Fox Confessor.
~Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide
;)
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