

Neko Case remains wonderfully uncategorizable

This article was originally published Oct. 26, 2013 on bostonglobe.com. Neko Case plays the Orpheum Theatre in Boston this Friday. Buy tickets here.
By James Reed | Globe Staff
AUSTIN, Texas The song from Neko Cases new album that most people cant seem to shake happens to be the most bare-bones one. Sung mostly a cappella, its based on an experience weve all had, which doesnt make it any less jarring.
At a bus stop, Case witnessed a mother so agitated with her child, who was probably around 5 or 6 years old, that she exploded in public: Get the [expletive] away from me!/ Why dont you ever shut up?
Case sings those words in a full, fervent chorus of voices, before turning the song into a motherly hymn to the young girl who was so brutally scolded.
Nearly Midnight, Honolulu comes from Cases acclaimed new album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You. Untamed and majestic, it is the most singular achievement in Cases career.
Alt-country no longer encapsulates the scope of her music; its a mash of brawny indie-rock and tender torch and twang.
Its a little on the weird side, but I went with it, she says of the new album. I was like, what have I got to lose? Youve got to trust your audience with what you do and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Case says this a few weeks ago on the patio connected to her room at the Hotel San Jose in this Texas town. Shes here for the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but todays performances have been canceled because of rain.
Case headlines the Orpheum Theatre on Friday, marking a return to the region she calls home. She lives full-time on a farm in northern Vermont with four dogs, two cats, and a horse named Norman. Shes hesitant to mention the exact location, but its been previously reported that shes near St. Johnsbury.
Back at her hotel, she swats at swarming mosquitoes, hellbent on killing them with her hands. She looks the way she appears in concert, which is to say like she doesnt give a [expletive]: not a stitch of makeup, sweatpants, flip-flops. Her nest of hair is graying and piled high, more the color of embers than the fiery flames she sports in her publicity photos.
This is how Case presents not only herself, but also her music: warts and all. At 43, Case has assumed her own mantle in American music, not exactly country and folk and not quite a straight-ahead rocker, either. Shes rooted in Greil Marcuss idea of the old weird America, where songs can be beautiful and savage, serene and unsettling.
The Worse Things Get. . . is a powerful indication of the kind of artist Case has become. Since debuting in the mid-1990s as an alt-country siren with a voice as vast as the prairies, she has moved into more slippery territory over the past decade. Alt-country no longer encapsulates the scope of her music; its a mash of brawny indie-rock and tender torch and twang. Shes also become more known to rock audiences as a member of the band the New Pornographers.
She admits the new album, her sixth studio recording as a solo artist, is her most personal to date. She didnt necessarily want to write songs explicitly about herself, but they just happened.
I was going through a crappy time. My parents died, my grandma died, and I was just mourning the dead. Everybody goes through it, she says. That kind of depression is super mundane, and its the longevity of it that really gets you. When is this going to be over?
The album marked the first time Case has worked with Tucker Martine, the noted producer whose credits include the Decemberists and My Morning Jacket. Martine, too, considers Case to be in a league of her own.
I really do see her as one of the great musical voices of my generation. I think she has transformed herself into an artist that cant be pinned down simply with a word like Americana, Martine writes in an e-mail. Like all great artists, she seeks to find territory that feels new to her each time out. Sometimes that can be disorienting to fans that are hoping for somebody to make the [same] record again, but in the long run, I think it makes for longer lasting, more interesting work.
Kelly Hogan, who has been performing with Case since 1999 and is a longtime member of her band as a backup singer, remains awestruck by Cases talent. Their relationship, as detailed in their amusing exchanges over Twitter, is one of sisterly compassion and mutual respect.
Theyre their own entity, Hogan says of Cases quixotic tales. With every record, she hews more toward her inner voice. She always has. Sometimes I [understand the words], like, Oh, that guy. I like her whole thing where her songs can mean anything: Ive done my part, and now you take it the rest of the way.
People will ask me, Who do you play with? Sometimes theyll know who [Neko] is, but usually they dont, Hogan adds. Well, what does she sound like?
Good question.
Our sound man, Phil, is like, I always say, imagine Roy Orbison as a hot, redheaded chick without glasses. It is kind of like that, but shes a masterclass on her own, Hogan says. Im sure agents or marketing people will say that has been to her detriment, but she just is, and I think thats to her credit.
Case concedes it has been a blessing and a burden not to take the most direct path. Her eye has been fixed more on the journey than the destination.
The most important thing I learned in school was, when you get an idea, its not going to be a great idea until you push it, she says. Youve got to push it until its uncomfortable. And then youve got to ask yourself, Does my project say to my audience what I want it to say?
James Reed can be reached at james.reed@globe.com.



Thanks for your submission!
We'll approve and post your submission as fast as we can.

FALL CONCERT PICKS
FOLLOW THE LINKS FOR COMPLETE TICKET INFO
At his Oct. 28 show at TD Garden, Josh Groban delivered "melodies cleanly and unambiguously" for a nearly two-hour set featuring a duet with opening act and "The Voice" contestant Judith Hill.
|
![]() |