Neko Case new album press release
FIRST STUDIO ALBUM IN NEARLY FOUR YEARS, ‘FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD,’ SET FOR MARCH 7, 2006 RELEASE ON ANTI- RECORDS
“Case sings like Patsy Cline’s ghost. A full-throated specter, her voice seems to ride the hum and crackle of some lost, late-night AM radio show. She whispers promises of inescapable desire, so enticing yet so dangerous they will have you jumping at shadows.” - USA TODAY
On March 7, Anti- Records will release ‘Fox Confessor Brings The Flood,’ the ambitious, riveting, and majestic new album by one of the great voices in American music, Neko Case. A breathtaking tangle of rich imagery and lush, warm arrangements - pierced by Case’s soaring, apparitional vocals - ‘Fox Confessor’ features twelve new songs, all written or co-written by Case, and co-produced by Case and Darryl Neudorf.
Case is abetted on ‘Fox Confessor’ by many of her long-time collaborators - The Sadies, Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico, Kelly Hogan, and Howe Gelb of Giant Sand to name a few . She’s also joined for the first time by Garth Hudson, The Band’s seminal sonic alchemist, who colors some of the album’s most memorable moments, and by ex-Flat Duo Jet Dexter Romweber.
‘Fox Confessor’ opens with the stunning “Margaret vs. Pauline,” an ornately filigreed tale of fate and injustice that immediately announces Case’s lyrical and musical intentions. Other highlights include the restless, driving “Hold on, Hold on,” the delicate yet jagged “Dirty Knife,” and “John Saw That Number” - a traditional folk song with new music by Case, which finds her delivering one of her most stunning vocal performances to date (part of which was recorded in the stairwell of Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern) over a galloping gospel rhythm.
W.H. Auden once wrote that one trait of a great poet is “a constant, progressive process of maturation, so that should an author’s individual works be placed side by side at any stage of his or her career, it would always be clear which work came first, and which came after.” ‘Fox Confessor’ furthers this argument, and finds Case pushing her talents to new heights.
Born in Virginia, raised in Washington, and on her own by age 15, Neko Case spent her formative late teens/early twenties playing in punk bands and attending art school in Vancouver, BC. A chance encounter with a Bessie Griffin record at age 19 opened her to a world of country, gospel and blues music that she’s still exploring to this day. Her debut album ‘The Virginian’ was release in 1997, and more critics and fans have taken notice of her unique talents with each subsequent release. Her last studio album, 2002’s ‘Blacklisted’ made several critics’ year-end lists. Case is also a founding and ongoing member of The New Pornographers. She toured extensively with them in 2005, and will perform in Seattle with the band on November 19 at the Pyramid Brewery at a benefit concert for "Snowrider Project." Case is planning a headlining tour of her own for 2006.