Neon Grey Midnight Green (Frosted Clear Vinyl)

The new music from Neko Case this decade, Neon Grey Midnight Green follows 2018’s Hell-On, an eclectic piece that The Guardian called “a pitch-perfect roar of female defiance.” Her latest is no less urgent but carries a deep blue streak of sentimentality in its incandescent blaze. The album pays tribute to the musicians, producers and activists who have passed away in recent years, all artists Neko was lucky enough to call not just influences but close friends. She rises on the shoulders of her musical heroes, using the tools they lent her to create her most inspired work.

More than any of her past albums, Neon Grey Midnight Green was laid down live with a full band – even breaths and shirtsleeve rustlings were kept in the final mix as a reminder that “humans were here.” The album’s recording primarily took place at Case’s own Vermont studio, Carnassial Sound, with additional sessions in Denver, Colorado with the Plains Song Chamber Orchestra and in Portland, Oregon with Tucker Martine. “There are so few producers who are women, nonbinary, or trans,” says Case, who identifies as gender fluid and uses she/her pronouns. “People don’t think of us as an option." "I’m proud to say I produced this record. It is my vision. It is my veto power. It is my taste.”

Listening to Case’s music will teach you about this world – human nature’s cruelty, perseverance and terrifying beauty, but the natural world as well – the moon and the stars, bees, lions and magpies. Should you encounter a wayward soul who has never heard her music, you might respond, “Well, she once sang from the perspective of a tornado,” as if to say: there’s no physical form that could stop her potent voice and evocative storytelling