Middle Cyclone

by

Neko Case

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I'm going to start my review talking about the album art, which is spectacular. It has more of Neko's signature artwork than her other albums and expresses the concept of the album much like her drawings on "The Tigers Have Spoken" and "Fox Confessor"--if there were some kind of award for this, Neko would win it.

What is so great about Neko Case is that nobody captures the essence of nostalgia quite like her. Her nostalgia is not the sentimental kind--not a wistful longing for what once was--but a deep ache for what we have unthinkingly destroyed. Her voice itself has an organic reverb that is not created by a production mixer. For people who tuned into Neko as an indie rocker, I encourage you to download individual tracks that sound like her old work, like "This Tornado Loves You" and "The Pharoahs"--"Middle Cyclone" is kind of a departure from her previous work if you are looking for songs that use her voice as the main instrument to play darkness with sweet melodies.

"Middle Cyclone" uses experimental sounds like the "piano orchestra" made up of forsaken and abandoned pianos, music boxes, and the notorious 32 minute track of frogs being so panned by critics. I think these experimental instrumental changes make the album less "poppy" because they decenter Neko's vocals inside a wall of sound, a move that reflects her collaborations with the New Pornographers and The Sadies. I'm really curious how these arrangements will play live on tour. I think some fans are going to be disappointed with "Middle Cyclone," though there are a few catchy tunes on the album. Long-time fans will see this album as a constellation of her work with other musicians, a return to psychedelic instrumentation, and "get" the centerpiece--a rework of the 1974 "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth."

About the frogs. The 32 minutes of frogs, which play like a sleep-sound machine at the end of the album, had the same impact on me as the song "The Tigers Have Spoken." They're lovely, like the melody to "Tigers," but their message is wrenching. How many of us would give anything to fall asleep to the sound of real frogs rather than blasting a sound machine of "nature" to mask the noise pollution of subwoofer terrorists, the whine of freeways and traffic, and the hum of our own houses/heads? What we have damaged is irretrievable...completely razed. Like the found pianos that make up the piano orchestra on the album, the frogs are free to sing; Neko found some frogs outside of the barn-studio that make a wall of sound; it is a frog orchestra. For the "Mother Earth" we have turned our backs on, not a maudlin song about saving, but a long, dark goodbye.

As a singer-songwriter, Neko Case is streets ahead of many of her contemporaries but, on this album, some of her vocal phrasing and song melodies are beginning to have an all too familiar ring to them. A number of the supporting musicians have also played on her earlier albums but, despite this, their hitherto 'stripped back', semi-acoustic sound has been replaced, on many songs, with a more fashionable echo-laden jangling sound, and a distinct lack of groove - but there are times when her musicians manage to conjure up some quite interesting sounds. On a more positive note, NC doesn't disappoint with the power and clarity of her vocals; and her lyrics, whilst less opaque than those on 'Fox Confessor', still place the emphasis more on imagery and less on transparency; also, several of the songs are love songs with lyrics evoking a strong nostalgic-reflective mood.

The songs I enjoyed most were : 'Polar Nettles', 'Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth' and 'Red Tide'; but there are no songs that really 'jump out and grab me'. The final track (some 30 odd minutes long) is comprised entirely of a recording of highly repetitive frog noises; whilst this must have some personal significance for NC, I can't think what possessed her to include it on the album. Having said this, some listeners may find it therapeutic (especially insomniacs).

NC has been a force to be reckoned with but, in my opinion, 'Middle Cyclone' does not represent her best work in terms of originality. It isn't a poor album by any means - NC's vocals are well up to her usual high standard (she has perfect pitch), and her lyrics are a clear cut above those to be found on many mainstream pop songs - yet, I still feel that the song writing is less inspired than on earlier albums. If you are thinking of buying 'Middle Cyclone', I'd recommend that you listen to as many tracks as possible beforehand - particularly if 'Fox Confessor' was an album that 'fired you up'.