Probably the first thing a listener who\u2019s familiar with Neko Case will recognize on Middle Cyclone<\/i> (other than the absolutely badass cover) is how similar it sounds to her previous album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood<\/i>. The animal imagery (\u201cI\u2019m An Animal\u201d), the true crime-like study of people on the wrong side of the law (\u201cPrison Girls\u201d), and the songs themselves that seem to masquerade themselves as Gothic fairytales are all over both releases. <\/p>\n
When you first pop in Middle Cyclone<\/i>, you find out that the album is almost double the length of her last album. That\u2019s great news if you love Neko Case. Unfortunately, the majority of that length comes not from her voice but from frogs outside her studio in the ambient 20 minute-plus closer \u201cMarais La Nuit.\u201d That revelation makes that cut seem more like a nasty joke Case played on her fans, but after repeat listens, it\u2019s a fitting capper to an album that\u2019s perfect late night listening material. An extended lullaby to lull the listener to sleep. <\/p>\n
With that last track out of the way, the listener is left with 14 songs that total under 40 minutes, making it a typical Neko Case album in terms of length. On the first few listens, Middle Cyclone<\/i> seems more like a continuation of Fox Confessor<\/i> than a separate album unto itself. Two songs, \u201cThis Tornado Loves You\u201d and \u201cPeople Got A Lotta Nerve,\u201d are among her poppiest songs. The open vulnerability of the title track shows Case getting even stronger as a songwriter. The pinnacle of her songwriting talents is the beautiful, moody \u201cPrison Girls.\u201d The prison imagery literally unfolds to a listener\u2019s ear as Case slowly takes them inside: \u201cThe lights were spokes and rungs away \/ I stumble back and hit the floor \/ Long shadows crawl beneath the door \/ To a passage so poorly lit \/ There\u2019s moths flying away from it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Of course, the most striking thing in all of Neko Case\u2019s albums is her voice. If you\u2019ve never heard her voice before, you\u2019ll hear one of the most original voices of the past decade. And if her vocals resonate, it\u2019s more than likely the first album of hers you pick up will be your favorite and you\u2019ll judge that disc against all of her other works. For those who caught on to Case with Blacklisted<\/i> or Fox Confessor<\/i>, Middle Cyclone<\/i> may take multiple listens to reveal its distinction, but it\u2019s hardly a taxing task. If Middle Cyclone<\/i> is your first exposure, there\u2019s a great chance that it will be your favorite Neko Case release. Either way, the album, like Case herself, is a treasure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6893],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41888","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\/41888","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41888"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}