Published on Jun 7, 2006
It’s so hard to peg down the feeling of the sun
striking your chilly arm hanging out the car window on a spring
day. Neko Case comes pretty damn close.
The lofty, reverb-laden vocals of this redheaded
stranger harness all the intangible energy, whim and wonder of
post-equinox days past, present and future with shocking clarity on
her fourth studio release.
The sound of her adept backing ensemble, which
includes cameos from the Band’s Garth Hudson and kindred spirit
Kelly Hogan, lay out the wholesome, rootsy Midwestern flavor your
grandfather might have blared out the ’47 Chevy on a juncture from
Chicago to St. Louis. Case, too, sports a Patsy Cline-evoking hum
as she pours tales of jealousy, animals, love and pain over 12
pristinely produced vignettes.
Most striking are the warm, familiar tones not unlike
mom’s Toll House pushed up against some of the best poetry this
side of Carl Sandburg. It’s a progressive idea built on traditional
arrangements that induce random fits of singing along. It’s
brilliant.
“Trees break the sidewalk / And the sidewalk skins my
knees / There’s glass in my Thermos / And blood on my jeans,” she
recants on “Star Witness,” a haunting recreation of a fatal teenage
car accident.
“That Teenage Feeling” taps similar James Dean vibes
with its dusty sound and lines like, “But now my heart is green as
weeds / Grown to outlive their season / And nothing comforts me the
same / As my brave friend who says / I don’t care if forever never
comes.”
The rather rocking arrangement of “John Saw That
Number” further blurs the lines of which era she’s shooting for.
“Will I ever see you again / Will there be no one above me to put
my faith in / I flooded my sleeves as I drove home again” well
accompanies the dark twang of the title track.
This is not just soundtrack for the road trip; it’s a
volume to be cherished as part of life’s grand journey, sunburns
included.