The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Fox Confessor doesn't yield an inch behind Case's brilliant, relentless pipes, which isn't so much a dig as the reason it leaves me feeling so overpowered. Add pretty-much-Calexico's dry, hard backing, and the resulting listen is a bit difficult when stretched over an entire album. But Case is a fine songwriter, able to harness her extraordinary power and transform it into sheer momentousness, as on "Star Witness" and "Maybe Sparrow," both stunners to raze buildings.

Lost amongst the immediacy of the eleven other tracks is "At Last," a blink-and-miss-it number which finds Case finally with her guard down. The guitars behind her strum sweetly introspective fourths, everything taking a breath. "And if death should smell my breathing/ As it passed beneath my window/ Let it lead me trembling, trembling" she sings with a resignation and uncertainty heretofore unheard, showing us that to touch is different than to move, although the latter is clearly her preference.

Neko Case - At Last [mp3]

Buy The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and visit Neko Case's homepage.

Enjoy.