Neko Case is a fighter, as evidenced by decades of some of the most subversive songwriting in a generation, and her force majeure of a memoir, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, released earlier this year. Case’s ninth LP, Neon Grey Midnight Green, feels like a continuation of her recounting, a sort of epilogue for all that floated to the surface—the grief, euphoria, reckoning, self-actualizing, and forgiveness. And true to Case, there is an otherworldly quality that keeps things weighty, but never weighed down. She can craft a melody that levitates and swerves in ways not heard before, with phrasing that leaves mouths agape in wonder, a wallop of emotion in just a few seconds.
Much the way the book was, Neon Grey Midnight Green is a love letter to so many towering figures in Case’s life, but mostly to her younger self. Case holds astoundingly beautiful space for all the ways she was figuring things out, articulated from the airy opening track, “Destination”:
You’re all period blood and soundcheck blues
Both armpits ripped and a lucky horseshoe pinball bruise
You’re not quite in proportion
So you’ve stayed in motion
Ever since your longing outgrew you
Stepping and re-stepping until it’s a run…
You’re the real destination
