Prison: Neko Case, Prison Girls

Purchase, Middle Cyclone, by Neko Case

I’ll take any opportunity talk about Neko Case. Ex punk rocker, singer songwriter, the best part of The new Pornographers—Case has an impressive resume, and that is before you even get to her solo work, which comprises her most stunning work. But what is most stunning about Case is this: she has a powerful and unique voice that is its own vital, yet distinctly separate instrument in whatever band she is performing front side. There is almost a lack of femininity to her vocal range, and while I wouldn’t use the word strident for what that word lacks, or rather says, as connotation, there is something moving and arresting in Case’s voice, when she performs in a softer register or really letting it out. Nor can I call her voice strong, though it is just that. Strong doesn’t quite characterize the way she rises above the music. Case sings like no one I’ve ever listened to. She can be as gentle in the soprano harmony of a purred hum fill, as she can be belting out the hey na nas in a shout out chorus.

Case does country, but in her own unique way, so labels don’t work. But, her music travels far from that particular genre. Her last few releases defy comparison and I strive for a single adjective in which to place her, style-wise. Like the greatest of artists, she is elusive while being almost identifiable. Her sound ranges from big, to folky, to antique, in a wonderful, nostalgic-for-something-you-don’t-know kind of way. I read an interview once with her, where she talked as she wandered her barn which was filled with old pianos and organs and other vintage instruments, all of which were going to be put to use on her next project. That struck me again as I listened: Case’s music is full of sound—sound in that sense that she is making a landscape, building it carefully, with her voice as the central spine, but then adding a plethora of other, beautiful harmonies. Again, the sound is multitudinous, an intense and dramatic choir of resonating aural portraits. Almost indefinable, but so perfect as to exist within its own special genre.

And this says nothing yet of her writing, perhaps her very strongest skill. Neko Case is a poet, with the pure of luck of having a brilliant voice. Her work is imagistic, and profound ideas march in metaphor across a unique lyrical world. She talks often of animals (foxes, killer whales), she talks of weather (sideways snow), she takes ordinary moments and suffuses them with comparisons and images that carry the brilliance of fresh paint on a canvas. Put her imagistic narratives up against sounds that come from strange places and the listener comes across 3-minute-and-something masterpiece after 3-minute-and-something masterpiece.  Case reminds me in many ways of the great imagist poets such as James Wright with her use of not just the image, but the deep image that carries with it the impression of the thing it is picturing and the emotional after-image that the thing means, like what happens when someone snaps your picture with a flash—the impression lasts, and deepens to a profundity that might not be immediately evident. But, again, the image abides, hovering in your thought, coloring your emotional tie to the music. Her song, “Deep Red Bells” comes to mind, with the image of a hand print left on the vinyl seat of a car, made fro ma sweating palm, there but for a moment, then gone.

“Prison Girls” is another perfect example of Case’s writing prowess. The song itself, from 2009’s Middle Cyclone, is smoky, languid and watery in a way. It’s dark and slinky, with a reverbed guitar that carries on as an eerie chime throughout. Like much of Case’s music, there is a rise toward a major chord-driven chorus that rises out of the stark, minor key whisp and sway, before sinking back down again. Case makes music with odd, rhythmic sensations; the sounds always remind me sonically of a breeze through a window. I’ll let you do with that image what you will. As far as the lyrics, “Prison Girls” is gorgeous image poetry with a narrative that is hard to pin down. I thought a lot about what she’s talking about here, aside from the obvious setting of a women’s prison. But like much of Case’s lyrics, the meaning is subservient to the beauty of the imagery and thus the picture she draws and the visual spell she casts. Case creates atmosphere often without filling in the details, and “Prison Girls” is mysterious by flirting around an unnamed central theme. But the mood she creates forgives the lack of through line. Take for instance:

            Awakened by a droning voice

            I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes

            Is it a lady of is it a man

            Humming helicopters through the blades of a fan

There is a haunted ambiance that carries “Prison Girls”, with that line, I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes, sung as a repeated refrain. It hints at menacing guards, looming over helpless prisoners; it brings to mind dark, lonely places; it puts the listener in a place they don’t want to be. But, good writing can carry the reader, or listener, to places they don’t want to go, but go anyway.

            

             Prison girls are not impressed
            They're the ones that have to clean this mess
            They've traded more for cigarettes
            Than I've managed to express 

You don’t really need to know exactly what she’s talking about. Like any great artist, the image, the impression, is its own entity and exists solely for the watcher, listener, to understand as they will. With Neko Case, however, the music will entrance you and much like waking up from a dream you don’t understand, the impression is sometimes more important than the meaning.

FROZEN: A Burning Snowman/The Sadies

The Sadies. Some will have heard the name, fewer, possibly, the band. SMM have but one mention for them that I can find, so time to redress the balance.

I was originally going to use another song, 'The Iceberg', as seeming more authentically 'frozen' a song than the presumable lukewarm melt that would result in this choice, but the increasingly common unsmiley face of not available in your territory cropped up. And because the band are so damn prolific, I knew they would have written a slew of songs about the cold. They are from Toronto.

Built around the brothers Dallas and Travis Good, the front line on all things stringed, guitars, fiddles, steel, along with Sean Dean on bass and Mike Belitsky on drums. The line-up has been constant since their 1994 formation, their style with little overt change from a template of surf instrumental, country weepies and electric bluegrass twang. But there is always something a little extra and unexpected in the mix, setting them way above some retrograde revamp of the Byrds meet the Surfaris, though that would not be a bad label to start an acquaintance. I don't quite know how or why, but it seems to me that canadians can do better country than their southern cousins, and the Sadies have me musing likewise on their aplomb with a surfdude vibe. Maybe there are more waves to catch in Saskatchewan than we knew. Their discography alternates between band albums and another tranche of titles where they play backing band, to such diverse artists as R'n'B sleaze man, Andre Williams, to country chanteuse with edge, Neko Case, ex-X man, John Doe, to the british country-punk roots rocker, Jon Langford. (Indeed, the band consider themselves honorary members of Langford's ever evolving Mekons collective.)

I have only crossed the wild atlantic on a handful of occasions, trying always to catch a show or two when I do, surveying the listings ahead of any such trip, scanning the pot-luck of availability. In, I guess, about 2004 or 5, I had a 5 day jaunt to New York and combined 2 bucket list entries, maybe 3, in the one go. Neko Case and the Sadies were playing the Bowery Ballroom! Braving the problem that the cabdriver couldn't find it, we wandered around the somewhat barren locale, in driving rain, I recall, eventually finding a somewhat rundown looking building. Inside a grim concreted bar. I thought this maybe the room they were playing and made light of it to my then wife, who was clearly terrified. After a nervous drink, there was suddenly the opening of big doors, leading up into a fabulously kitsch old style dance hall, with an upstairs verandah spread around the 3 non stage walls. A lacklustre opening band, surely not the Sadies, I prayed, plugged in. O dear, but not for long, as after maybe 20 minutes they let the stage, and the 4 oldstyle wild western characters, much as envisaged in the album sleeve above, trooped on, Travis looking every bit Wyatt Earp's younger and even more tubercular brother. (See if you can guess which one he is!) Yee-bloody-haw, it was terrific! I was hooked as one song banged out after another, harmony vocals wailing into their beer on one song, riptide  bendy baritone  notes on the following instrumental. 40 minutes and then we got Neko. Consummate. I may have neglected my wife so struck was I by this show. I remember well the row in the taxicab back to our hotel.

Since then I have stayed more loyal to the band than to Neko, hoovering up their catalogue and keeping out an eye for other appearances. One such example is Garth Hudson's exemplary custodianship of his old band, the Band, with his 2010 release, Garth Hudson presents: A Canadian celebration of the Band. Of course, these Canucks like to stick together, so possibly no surprise that this, amongst other tracks, should have them performing not just with Garth, but with Neil Young. That wheel was indubitably on fire. (Sorry, another unsmiley from youtube for me.......)

Their last record was some few years ago and I was worried the trail had gone cold. Maybe the surf had frozen, so it was with some relief I heard this trailer for a forthcoming release, later in the year. A band album, rather than backing band album, but this song features Kurt Vile, who fits their vibe with a natural finesse:

Get some stuff.

Green: Bowling Green

The Everly Brothers: Bowling Green

[purchase]

Neko Case: Bowling Green

[purchase]

A quick post here at the buzzer to pay tribute to Orlando Mendez-Valdez and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and a valiant effort tonight against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament. In the end, the Toppers came up just short in a very entertaining game.

Western Kentucky University is located in Bowling Green, KY. Bowling Green, Ky is the subject of this fine song originally recorded by the Everly Brothers. I've also included Neko Case's cover of the song as it is my favorite version and one of the first Neko Case songs I came to love.

The Moon: I Wish I Was The Moon

Neko Case: I Wish I Was The Moon [purchase]

As much as I wish Neko Case would get back to her rock 'n' roll roots, I can't deny her gift for the torch song. In fact, this might be the best song she ever recorded. The arrangement is dynamic without being overbearing, the band embracing Neko's vocals like a winter coat. Of course, when Joey Burns and John Convertino from Calexico are 2/3 of your band ... Jon Rauhouse on pedal steel is the other 1/3 ... sympathetic accompaniment is virtually guaranteed. Production-wise, the heavy reverb is a nice touch, giving the recording a timeless, almost retro quality. And what can you say about Neko's singing? She takes it to the house, providing perfect high harmonies for herself. Even the lyrics are suggestive in the best way, full of implication rather than declaration. All in all, it's an epic performance from one of America's loveliest and most talented singers.