NEKO CASE
Live in Austin, TX
New West Records
· A voice for radio and a face for all things visual.
It's one thing to hear Neko Case's voice on record – some transported echo from the past, the type of singer they don't make anymore. It's another thing entirely to watch her perform in the flesh. On Austin City Limits's recording of Case from August 9, 2003, her live act holds up just as strongly as her near-spotless records.
While the energy balance on last year's The Tigers Have Spoken is definitely more pronounced given the powerhouse involvement of The Sadies as backing band, Case's approach on Live in Austin, TX is joyously minimalist. It’s a perfect throwback to the early days of radio concert programs and televised Grand Ole Opry episodes. Alongside Kelly Hogan, Jon Rauhouse and Tom V. Ray, Case belts out the finest moments of the then-new Blacklisted (and its EP counterpart Canadian Amp), while even risking a performance of a song she'd taught to her band just the night before ("Maybe Sparrow").
Even without the waves of reverb she favours on her studio recordings, Case's voice is as simple, pure and strong an instrument as any of the greats. Her guitar playing may be a bit heavy-handed, and the between-song banter is worth skipping (although her request for the audience to bat at imaginary bugs so as not to destroy her grandmother's impression that the back-lit studio set is actually truly outdoors in Austin is hilarious), but Neko Case is a true-hearted artist hard to fault from any angle.
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