NEKO CASE
Blacklisted
Mint/ Bloodshot
· Neko boots out the boyfriends and gets her own place.
The multi-talented, multi-faceted and multi-tasking Neko Case is consistently amazing regardless of what she does. Be it the glammed-up rock of The New Pornographers, the good ol' girls party-time of the Corn Sisters or the stately backwards call of her solo material, she makes it all sound natural and effortless. While 2000’s cryin’ and dyin’ masterpiece, Furnace Room Lullabye, grabbed Case a coveted "For Real" certificate, Blacklisted is enough to warrant a bright red "Serious Artiste at Work" stamp across her forehead.
Galloping in with the spooky banjo ramble "Things That Scare Me," Case plays the weary outcast on the run, "hunted by American dreams." Watch your back – she’s got a gun at the ready and opens the proceedings with the all-encompassing threat, "the hammer clicks in place/ the world’s gonna pay." Later, on "Lady Pilot," Case proclaims herself a kamikaze flyer who's "not afraid to die." If Furnace Room Lullabye encompassed the first few rungs of the 12-step tragedy reaction cycle (defeat through denial, mostly), this new album sees Case leaping off the ladder, out for revenge.
Despite its darkness, Blacklisted remains strikingly beautiful. Accompanied by members of Giant Sand, the Sadies and old compatriot Kelly Hogan, the likes of "I Wish I Was The Moon" and "Deep Red Bells" form a spacious echo. The short and sweet "Outro With Bees" is perhaps Case’s finest moment yet. Built over Gelb’s sleepy cabaret piano and a cello echoing from somewhere down the hall, "Bees" sighs with the mournful ghosts of Case’s patron saints, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Reprised at the end of the album as a scratchy radio transmission fading out of range, Case sings, "I’m gonna ruin everything/ So it’s better, my sweet/ That we hover like bees/ Because there’s no sure footing/ No love, I believe."
The proceedings aren’t always as immediately accessible as those on Furnace Room Lullabye – the songs here occasionally wander around the room for a second before getting comfortable – but Blacklisted is undeniably the work of an artist in complete control. On all but three tracks (two of which are covers, including a striking run-through of the soul chestnut "Runnin’ Out Of Fools"), Case takes the sole songwriting credit for the first time, claiming the whole ghostly terrain on Blacklisted as hers alone. Ink the stamp.
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