Singer/songwriter Neko Case has been arriving for years but, she finally made that big “woohoo” critical splash in 2006 with one of that year’s best albums “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”. To further celebrate the achievements of one of this country’s best Americana artists, Anti- has taken a look back at where Case came from by reissuing her previous discs.
2002s Blacklisted was her third full-length album and the disc, full of warm honey-colored songs with just the right amount of angst and twang, showcases an artist getting ready to spread her wings. All of the elements are in place here – there are the observant songs with a slightly wry sense of humor where a woman’s curves are called “comely and sinister”, outstanding vocals and a straightforward production that keeps it simple and lets the singer shine.
Most of the songs on Blacklisted play like sketches of life painted in miniature like the old-fashioned portraits that ladies used to hide away in their lockets. There are songs that act as laments to deep down loneliness like the haunting track “I Wish I Was the Moon” where Case croons “there are no pills for what I feel” and the deceptively upbeat “Outro With Bees”, where “wine is fine and fast”. There are plenty of personal poisons to pick from on this record (fear, anger, disappointment, etc.) but they all go done smooth and easy.
Neko Case spends a little too much time on Blacklisted projecting her songs comfortably in her mid-tempo range, something she would learn to vary more in the future but she does let her sassy side out on the album’s strongest song “Runnin’ Out of Fools”. Throughout the song, the rootsy singer channels her inner Patsy Cline. She may have been played the “fool” in love once, and sure, she has a few scars to show for it, but she emerges from the scrape a whole lot wiser. |