20 Signs of Life in 2002

Call it maturity, call it confidence, call it natural progression, but without doubt Neko Case is moving forward as an artist. Case has always had a strong voice and a knack for giving gritty stories an ethereal bent. On Blacklisted, her third album, she is handling more songwriting on her own and putting a finer point on both her narratives and her presence as a performer.

Fans of Case’s first two albums will still recognize the artist on her third. Her persona and her music are still dark, mysterious, and a little distant, her voice wrapped in reverb as if she were calling out from a vast, empty space. If Tom Waits is the drunken dreamer caught in the gutter, Neko Case is the woman who put him there. And unlike some of her contemporaries, Case hasn’t given up on twang as she’s developed her own voice. Hard to argue that songs like "I Missed the Point" and "Runnin’ Out of Fools" aren’t firmly rooted in Patsy Cline country.

Still, Case has added a few refinements to her arrangements–the nod to bluegrass on "Things That Scare Me," the subtle rhythmic shifts in "Deep Red Bells." And at times, her lyrics are nothing short of beautiful. The chorus of "I Wish I Was the Moon" and the imagery of "Deep Red Bells" are as provocative as anything anyone else is writing right now. Blacklisted proves that Neko Case can take something good and make it even better.

See the rest of our 20 Signs of Life in 2002.