“Did they poison my food? Is it cause I’m a girl? / If I puked up some sonnets would you call me “a miracle?”
Neko Case gets fairly specific — and, thusly, cryptic — on her new song “Night Still Comes.” This swaying tune brings in soul and gospel elements into its killer chorus, and the large chorus that sings her chorus. “You never held it at the right angle,” they sing, never naming what “it” is as she relates how a forest consumes her and the ocean dashes her biggest “plans.”
“Night Still Comes” is yet another example on Case’s next album “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You” of slipping her character’s gender into the “Fight.” On “Man,” she took up a male as its subject, but not just any male: a very male-y male, an archetype of manly adages in song. Here, pairing the term “puke” up with “is it ’cause I’m a girl” makes it really confrontational, even if we still have no idea what the hell is going on.
I’ll just mark this as another good one from Case, whose “Worse Things Get” is out on Sept. 3 via Anti-. The album features guest spots from M. Ward, members of The New Pornographers, My Morning Jacket, Calexico and more. Full tracklist and tour dates are below.
Here is the tracklist for “The Worse Things Get”:
1. Wild Creatures
2. Night Still Comes
3. Man
4. I”m From Nowhere
5. Bracing for Sunday
6. Nearly Midnight, Honolulu
7. Calling Cards
8. City Swans
9. Afraid
10. Local Girl
11. Where Did I Leave That Fire
12. Ragtime
Here are Neko Case’s tour dates:
8/09 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Folk Festival
8/11 – Regina, SK @ Regina Folk Festival
8/24-25 – Monterey, CA @ First City Festival
9/06 – Chicago, IL @ A.V. Fest/Hideout Block Party
9/08 – Portland, OR @ Musicfest NW
9/11 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
9/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ Orpheum Theater
9/13 – Santa Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Center
9/14 – Denver, CO @ The Ellie Caulkins
9/16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
9/17 – Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory
9/18 – Seattle, WA @ The Paramount
9/19 – Eugene, OR @ The Cuthbert Amphitheater
9/20 – Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theater
9/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
9/26 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
10/04-06 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/05-06 – Los Angeles, CA @ Way Over Yonder Fest
10/11-13 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/15 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall
10/16 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/19 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
10/20 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
10/23 – Nashville, TN @ The Cannery
10/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
10/26 – Durham, NC @ The Durham Performing Arts Center
10/27 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Paramount
11/01 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre