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Many publications pride themselves on their end of the year or mid year best of list. I am into that, but let’s look at something far more dubious the title of best album cover of the year! So far i have three on my short list for my favorites:

Neko Case- Middle Cyclone

It is Neko Case looking awesome with a sword, on a muscle car… What else do you need to know?

Dinosaur Jr.- Farm

Crazy Ent looking creatures that look high walking around carrying naked chicks? Yes. This is Good!

Major Lazer- Guns Don’t Kill People Lazers Do

I know nothing about this group, but this album cover is the dark horse in the race. It literally came out of no where and has turned what i thought was a two horse race into a full out sprint between all three. I mean this is classic modern day art!

So any that i missed you think should be in the running? Which is your favorite?

The immensely talented Neko Case had a tall order when she decided to try to follow up her universally loved 2006 album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”, but with her latest release “Middle Cyclone” it quickly become apparent that she was up for the task. She starts off strong before you even hear a note of the music with what I am willing to go ahead and call the Best Album Cover of the Year.  The ever sensual Neko is poised for the attack crouched on the hood of 67 Mercury Cougar muscle car with a SWORD. As far as I am concerned that is the kill screen in the game of album covers.

She did not go it alone on the album someone like Neko is surrounded by talented friends and she brings them in to help on “Middle Cyclone”.  She leans on her longtime band mates as well as Garth Hudson of the Band, M Ward, Sarah Hammer, members of New Pornographers, Calexico, Sadies, & Giant Squid. She brings all the band members together to her Vermont farm where she did most of the recording in a barn that was lined with pianos waiting to create the magic that would become “Middle Cyclone”.

An immediate theme of the uncontrolable force of nature, animals, and weather comes to the forefront of the album and seems to be an ongoing metaphor. After one listen it is easy to see why that Vermont farmhouse was the perfect backdrop to help Neko capture the vastness of nature as she tried to portray it’s many forms on the album. It should be noted also that on many occasions Neko said that this album was filled with love songs. It seems on many of these songs to me Nature plays the role of various types of love.  These may be love songs but they are love songs in Neko’s unique and far more interesting terms. Those terms are not what most would expect going in being told they were getting an album filled with songs about love’s various forms, but Neko has always done things in a unique fashion.

On my first couple of listens I had a few songs that stood out but overall I thought the album was good, but with repeated listens and paying close attention to the lyrics this album comes to life. It is an album that truly becomes more rewarding each time for those who take the time to allow the album to wash over them. The three that captured my attention immediately were the first track “This Tornado Loves You”, the title track “Middle Cyclone”, and “I’m an Animal”.

The songs throughout the album just seem to capture a gentle zephyr like feel yet many carry a thick dark undertone. Neko may be giving you crisp sweet songs, but you can tell by the way they are crafted there is a dangerous undertow that pulls you in and draws you deeper into the album. It is that undertow that upon further listens draws you to songs like “Prison Girls”, “Red Tide”, “Magpie to the Morning”, & “Vengeance is Sleeping”. These songs seem to be immensely interesting and help add depth to an album with their lyrical twist and interesting musical deliveries.

If I could fault anything about the album it would be that some of the songs like “The Next Time You Say Forever” & “I’m an Animal” seem to end to soon. With both timing in around the two minute mark the listener is left yearning for one more verse and chorus, but again these are Neko’s songs done on her terms. One thing I love about Neko Case is how she sings. She is very adept at her delivery of words in her songs. Emphasising at the right moment in the song to give it extra meaning. This is not something that is new for her but it seems like she has mastered it on Middle Cyclone.

It should be mentioned she does find a way to slide a couple of covers into the album. The first being the 1974 “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Nature” originally done by the Sparks and Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me”. They both work well on the album, but I personally enjoyed Neko’s performance of “Don’t Forget Me” more, although it is easy to see how “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Nature” easily follows her album theme.

As of now though my favorite song on the album is still “I’m an Animal”. It starts in slowly and builds majestically. I think lyrics are generally best left open to individual interpretation so I’ll refrain from sharing my thoughts on the song, but I think it is very poignant and any fan will have to hear this song. Neko ends the album with a thirty minute track she recorded of crickets and frogs singing us a tender lullaby in the night air of her Vermont Farm. A wonderful outro for a very satisfying album.

This is an album that will surely compete for one of my top ten at the end of the year. I feel that strongly about Middle Cyclone at this point. The album is a wonderful dark folksy record that stays the course of Neko’s singer songwriter style of mixing indie rock with alt country. Some of the songs seem a little more poppy and upbeat then previously but upon further inspection there is that dark undertone that carries the album. ”Middle Cyclone” is a very rewarding and enjoyable listen to all who have fallen in love with her sound previously and will surely be capable of winning over first time listeners. Her voice delivers these songs in a beautiful voice that is tender/gentle yet strong and forceful.

You can check out the single  “People Got a Lot of Nerve”  (which she has said her inspiration for that song came from the zoo attacks on people) on her myspace page here.

Just remember Neko is an animal, you’re an animal too

Here is I’m An Animal at Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle last year (sorry sound is not the best)