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Neko Case Still Obeys Her Own Speed Limit

NEKO CASE: MIDDLE CYCLONE (ANTI) **1/2

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By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

Neko Case's artful, carefully crafted folk-country has usually been easier to admire than really enjoy. Her albums tend toward the polite and poetic despite her having some of the most powerful pipes around. Listening to Case is a bit like watching a muscle car stuck in a school zone.

Case doesn't exactly let her hair down on "Middle Cyclone," but she kicks her shoes off and gets a little closer to the sort of pop she performs with The New Pornographers. There's nothing quite as luminous as "Mass Romantic" here, but there's a bit more snap and crackle than before.

Leadoff track "This Tornado Loves You" could be a reworked Smiths track. Case's phrasing and use of repetition is a dead ringer for Morrissey's. "People Got a Lot of Nerve" is tight as a drum, and Case's unusually direct (on the surface at least) lyrics provide just the right kick.

"Prison Girls" recalls late-period Specials, while remakes of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" and Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" display impeccable taste, even if Nilsson's sharp, funny lyrics provide an unfortunate contrast with Case's sometimes strained attempts.

The middle of the disc sags badly, though, with the title track (beware of cuts using music boxes), "Fever" and "Magpie to the Morning" threatening to drown the proceedings in the mire of good taste.

It recovers afterward, though, with "Prison Girls," the indie-rocking "I'm an Animal" and "The Pharoahs," a dark waltz.

The final track, "Marais La Nuit," is 31:39 of crickets chirping. There is no song, or pony, in the middle. I listened so you don't have to.

Download this: "This Tornado Loves You"

CDs are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.

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