Whenever a new year starts up, I usually take a few weeks to \u201ccatch up\u201d on the previous 12 months. Is it a form of reminiscing? Maybe, but the fact of the matter is that there is a lot of music that I miss out on. The various Best Of lists and articles provide fodder for me to chase after and help me narrow down what I failed to notice.<\/p>\n
Case in point: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.<\/i> This was a disc I\u2019d heard about a few months ago, but never took the time to investigate further. Shame on me. Neko Case sounds like one of those rare talents that deserve the spotlight.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard for me to categorize this record in any typical sense; Case effortlessly flows and blends different genres in the pursuit of her vision. There are hints of country, gospel and rock; in fact Case comes off as a one-woman Wilco. Dashes of Fleetwood Mac (\u201cFox Confessor Brings The Flood\u201d), the Mamas and the Papas (\u201cHold On, Hold On\u201d) also pepper the mix. This is a decidedly \u201cAmerican\u201d record, but it\u2019s not the often-hokey style of Much like Joni Mitchell\u2019s Blue<\/i>, Fox Confessor<\/i>\u2026 is the sound of a woman baring her soul in as many ways as possible. The production here is absolutely stunning and a perfect fit for the true focus of Case\u2019s words. Her lyrics are much more poetic than anything Dylan wrote on Modern Times<\/i>; the imagery is evocative yet personal. Lines like \u201cOh fox confessor please \/ Who married me to these orphaned blues \/ It’s not for you to know, but for you to weep and wonder \/ When the death of your civilization precedes you,\u201d are enough to provoke hours of analysis.<\/p>\n Case herself is quite impressive in many ways, but her vocals stand out. While unique to be sure, I was reminded of a young and vital Stevie Nicks. At no point during Fox Confessor<\/i> does Case step up the mike and just belt out the notes a la Christina Aguilera. She is a little more subtle and much more melodic than Mitchell, demonstrating a welcome sense of restraint that suits the material.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a shame this album came to my attention at the current time; had I heard it back in September or October it could have been on my Best Of list [Editor\u2019s note: It appeared on two of our writers’ “Best Of” lists<\/a> for 2006]<\/i>. For a near-perfect slice of female singer-songwriter craftsmanship, look no further than Fox Confessor Brings The Flood<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":28354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6893],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40121","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-neko-case","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40121"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}