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Tune in to the XPN Morning Show each Monday to hear, Host, Mike Vasilikos, review XPN's Featured Album of the Week. This week's album is....

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti- / Epitaph)

BUY THIS CD: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Bridging all kinds of musical syles effortlessly with her highly emotive, smoky voice, NEKO CASE has created a masterpiece with Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. This Virginian-born, Tacoma-raised alt-diva got her career started in a big way when she moved to Vancouver and joined THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS (with whom she still records and tours). Case brings an inherent understanding of country music an all of its' possible range of feelings to the table on this new disc, but it's in no way a country album (or even an alt-country album, for that matter...). Case is country like DUSTY SPRINGFIELD or TOWNES VAN ZANT was... she's actually more of a country-noir artist than anything else. It's an emotive starting point, but the music in no way stops or ends there.

Standout tracks include "Hold On, Hold On" and "That Teenage Feeling", but this disc is so spansive and beautiful that I suppose any or all may emerge as your personal fave. In this day and age of a "hit" song surrounded by dozen other also-rans, it is certainly refreshing to hear such a fully realized effort throughout an entire disc. If you're already a Neko fan, you'll no doubt notice how wonderfully Fox Confessor Brings The Flood sounds... you already know what a great singer and songwriter she is. For the uninitiated, get ready to discover a wonderfully talented artist.

Helped on this new album by folks like THE BAND's GARTH HUDSON and fellow cosmic cowboys THE SADIES (another band that Neko has performed with, and worth checking out, too...), Case is just hitting her stride. If you don't believe me, put Fox Confessor Brings Ther Flood in your car stereo and take a little ride...

Written by Dan Reed

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