Neko Case - Fox ConfessorBrings The Flood

Wed 15th Mar, 2006 in Music Reviews

One third gospel, one third country (alternative and dangerously intoxicating), and one third folk numbers – Neko Case delivers an incredibly strong fourth official (solo) long player, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. An album rich with layered and traditional reverb vocal provided by Case, as she co-produces along with Darryl Neudorf (who had previously launched the careers of Sarah McLachlan and Case’s other outfit, Canada’s The New Pornographers) to release one of the most crisp and brilliant records of 2006 thus far.

Case’s vocal shines throughout Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, and is ably backed by the crucial selection of playing partners, including the multi-talented members of Calexico, Joey Burns on vocal and guitars, and John Convertino supplying the rhythm, with his own trademark, shuffling style of mariachi inspired, textured drumming giving the album a full blooded richness to the overall sound.

In fact, with the enigmatic Garth Hudson (The Band) lending support with his organ and piano playing which blends throughout Fox Confessor... to give an understated but highly effective edge – when combined with the use of strings on the album – the guitars – the bowed bass (used with a deeply haunting effect on the jagged edge of Dirty Knife) and cello’s, the true wonder and appeal of the album is the mood it creates from one song to the next. The tunes chip away at your subconscious and just continue to drag you deeper into the dark gospel world of Case and her friends with the eclectic mix of the material.

Fox Confessor... has many highlights early on with the five minute splendour of Star Witness, where we find Case floating her vocal throughout the truest alt/country track on the album – complete with sweeping drums and overlap of back up vocals rising up to the surface. Star Witness is then succeeded by the gorgeous and rocking Hold On, Hold On with its Calexiconian beats and swirling guitars accompanying Case’s always impressive and strong vocal range. As the percussion rides along to the backbeats, the guitars open up and spew out some very fine riffage. And then it’s all over in a little under three minutes – a true indicator of the timing and space of the record, as Case makes her lyrical and musical statements quickly and succinctly before exiting the songs with dignity and musical credentials intact – never once does Case overstate the playing and fall into the many traps of over production and inflated ego, and we’re all the richer for it, that’s for sure!

Fox Confessor Brings The Flood moves along from Case’s previous three albums, complementing them nicely and is as close to perfection as you could get with the gospel/country genre. Lion’s Jaws opens up like a Mazzy Star or Cowboy Junkies signature song with its smooth harmonies, twinkling guitars and booming vocal which recalls Martha Wainwright, someone who seems to be a kindred spirit of Case’s, as they are currently touring throughout the US together and from all reports dominating the crowds with their powerful storytelling – these women are impressive and memorable musicians who just seem to improve as the years fly by.

Fox Confessor...closes as it opens – with the same masterful music complementing the book ends of the album. We hear The Needle Has Landed and can’t be impressed enough by again, the mood and texture of the song as it moves along at the same perfected rhythm that has preceded it in the previous 11 tracks. The subject material is dark and intelligent, the music is achingly beautiful, and the writing has a poetic charm to it… I mean what else could you really ask for in a Neko Case album..?

- Nick Argyriou