CD of The Week

It’s been a long seven years since the release of Neko Case’s last full-length studio album, 2018’s excellent Hell-On, but she has kept busy in the intervening time. Case has continued to act as the not-so-secret weapon for The New Pornographers on two more acclaimed albums, and her revealing memoir, The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, came out earlier this year to rapturous reviews. Case has always been an open book as a songwriter and public figure, but transporting her voice into a new medium has resulted in quite the shakeup in her primary one. Neon Grey Midnight Green barely fits into the alt-country space that Case usually occupies, instead feeling more influenced by the baroque, theatrical pop of Kate Bush with intense strings and quirky arrangements. As surprising and eclectic as it may be sonically, the new album is still full of the vivid imagery and melodic pleasures Case’s fans should expect.

The opening track, “Destination,” is one of the most startling in her entire oeuvre, a character study of a “stranger” with a “lucky horseshow pinball bruise” that contains seven full verses that each climax in a soaring crescendo from the PlainSong Chamber Orchestra, a 20-piece ensemble from Denver. Surreal lyrical scenes continue to unfold on songs like “An Ice Age,” which sees generational trauma manifested as “oily, slick communion waves,” and the gothic-tinged title track, where the narrator hears “a hole / where the scrape and drag of my cannons should be.” The title track also shifts tempo and style in exciting fashion in its second half as a distorted stomp adds real power to the twisted rage expressed in the lyrics.

Many tracks possess these odd dynamics where conventional melodies take a backseat to disorienting rhythms. The album is a real curveball on an initial listen, but the strength of the songcraft becomes apparent the more time you spend in its grasp. The tendency to upend standard structures also has the effect of increasing the emotional resonance of the relatively straightforward (but still strange) acoustic tunes, such as “Rusty Mountain.” It’s also worth mentioning that Neon Grey Midnight Green is Case’s first album where she is credited as the sole producer, which makes the experimentation and rich sound even more laudable.

Few artists with as deep a discography and as distinctive of an aesthetic as Case release as bold of a departure as Neon Grey Midnight Green. Those expecting her powerful vocals and cryptic songwriting to be paired with melancholy twang will be initially startled, but Case’s adventurousness pays off artistically as her new release ranks among her very best.

Neko was just in the Philadelphia city limits for a show at the Met last weekend but will be back in the broader Delaware Valley in 2026 with shows at The Queen in Wilmington on January 16th and the Archer Music Hall in Allentown on January 17th.