Storm Warning: Neko Case to Hit Antone's Tonight

On her widely lauded most recent album, Middle Cyclone, Neko Case toys with the phrase "force of nature," a favorite of critics describing her voice, much like a musician version of Thor whiling away a particularly good afternoon with thunderbolts and reverb. Middle Cyclone opens with "This Tornado Loves You," sung from the point of view of a tornado as it rips through the landscape. It was a novel move to turn description literal, and with much stylistic inventiveness to match on the part of the album itself.

Case is fond of mythology. She weaves it throughout her work, whose imagery expands beyond the borders of any particular album to form connective tissue between them. Middle Cyclone expands and refracts the ideas introduced on 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. This sort of continuity from one release to the next creates the kind of body of work that makes lifelong fans of many listeners.

In many ways, Austin is a natural setting for Case's soulful, skewed-off-the-beaten-country-path vocal work. Her penetrating voice cuts a swath straight through the twangy guitars that any natural disaster would be proud of. Motley indie Austin four-piece Oh No Oh My kicks off the aural downpour at Antone's tonight.

Neko Case [Myspace][Official]
Oh No Oh My [Myspace]