What a hoot to try on Patsy Cline’s persona–minus the car accident, the plane crash, and all the heartbreak in between, that is. With a hipster-hoedown wardrobe, a good-time band, and an audience that appreciates country music, Neko Case has had scads of fun reviving Cline’s swingy, traditional sound with a dash of foxy urban attitude. She hails from the Northwest, attended art school, and started out as a punk rocker and sometimes-member of the New Pornographers, so Case can’t lay claim to dead Southern relatives who played banjos with their teeth, or whatever passes for cred south of the Mason-Dixon line. But with her new album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Case lays Cline to rest and heads toward a much more distinctive and arresting sound. Spiritual, dark, and relying on a knack for storytelling that transcends genre and region, these songs reveal a fascinating lyrical voice that her previous works only hinted at. If this is the down-deep Neko Case, we’re crazy, well maybe not so crazy for loving her.
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