NEKO: new album
NEKO CASE ANNOUNCES ‘WILD CREATURES’,
A 23-SONG CAREER RETROSPECTIVE ALBUM
FEATURING NEW SONG “OH, SHADOWLESS”
OUT THIS FRIDAY APRIL 22
INTERACTIVE WEBSITE COMMEMORATES TWO DECADES OF SOLO WORK WITH NEW SHORT ESSAYS, TRACK-BY-TRACK COMMENTARY AND ARTWORK
NEW NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES WITH M. WARD, INDIGO GIRLS, SHE & HIM, IRON & WINE + MORE
FIRST-EVER LIVESTREAM PERFORMANCE – ‘WILD CREATURES: LIVE FROM THE LUNG’ ON MAY 19 AT 8:30 PM ET FOR SUBSTACK SUBSCRIBERS
Today the artist, producer and songwriter Neko Case is announcing ‘Wild Creatures’, a digital-only career retrospective album containing twenty-two of Neko’s most impactful tracks from her discography as well as one new song. Coming out this Friday, you can pre-order and pre-save it HERE.
The new song, “Oh, Shadowless”, will also debut with a new animated music video created by Laura Plansker on Friday at 12 pm ET via the below link.
“Oh, Shadowless” – Premiere on Friday, April 22 at 12 pm ET: https://nekocase.ffm.to/wildcreatures/youtube
Also on Friday, fans are invited to visit nekocase.com where ‘Wild Creatures’ is expanded in its presentation to feature new and animated artwork by Laura Plansker for each of its 23 tracks.
Songs from the compilation will play in real time while scrolling through the site to read short essays and track-by-track commentary from guest contributors celebrating Neko’s two decades of solo work including long time collaborators A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar and M. Ward, culture-defining contemporaries David Byrne, Shirley Manson, Jeff Tweedy and Rosanne Cash and new generations of artists like Waxahatchee, Julien Baker, Kevin Morby, Allison Russell and Margo Price.
In addition, folklorist Adrienne Mayor, ANTI- Records president Andy Kaulkin, and longtime New Yorker staff writer & author Susan Orlean also contributed pieces, among many others.
Later this month, Neko and her band will embark on a North American tour in support of ‘Wild Creatures,’ including stops in Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle. Additional dates announcing today include stops in Brooklyn, Nashville, Minneapolis, and more. All shows are on sale this Friday, April 22.
Additionally, Neko is announcing her first-ever official streaming performance entitled ‘Wild Creatures: Live From The Lung.’
Recorded from Neko’s home studio in Vermont, the event, powered by Mandolin, will take place on Thursday, May 19 at 8:30 pm ET for paid subscribers of her weekly Substack newsletter Entering The Lung: https://nekocase.substack.com/
Gathering power year after year, Neko sings with the fierce abandon of a newborn infant crying in a basket in the woods. Since escaping the labels of country and Americana, the gorgeous train-whistle vocals of her early career sit submerged in her later style, where their ghost can appear any minute.
When her voice jumps an octave, it’s almost visible, like sparks at night. “I never knew where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with my voice,” she says, “but I just wanted to do it so bad.”
Is there another songwriter so fearless and inventive? Bending decades of pop music into new shapes, Neko wields her voice like a kiss and her metaphors like a baseball bat.
She has cast the fishing net of her career wide—from Seattle and Vancouver to Chicago and Stockholm, setting up her home base on a farm in New England.
Neko Case songs often exist with distinct sections that recall symphonies. Changing from ballads or waltz time to a rock beat and back, the elements sometimes seem wired together to make an improvised explosive device. In studio, Neko obsesses over sound. Always involved with how her albums were recorded, she’s seized and embraced the role of producer.
Standing halfway up a half-built stairway, she hammers nails into place as she goes along. Despite blowing every deadline she’s ever been given, Neko feels in her bones when a song or a project is done.
If her career were mapped, it might be a choose-your-own-adventure book. She hasn’t masterminded each album with some absolute endpoint in mind. “I’ve never been afraid to ask for help. I’m able to trust myself in the moments where I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
She’s doing it on her own terms, but the legacy she’s building is one that can stand up to music made by any other solo artist in her lifetime. Don’t look away; you never know what might happen. “I’m just trying,” she says, “to be myself as hard as I can.”
TOUR DATES
04/28 – The Music Hall – Portsmouth, NH ~
04/29 – Higher Ground Ballroom – Burlington, VT ~
5/19 – Wild Creatures: Live From The Lung – Streaming Event For Substack Subscribers
05/28 – Levon Helm Studios – Woodstock, NY ~
05/29 – Levon Helm Studios – Woodstock, NY ~
06/01 – Paramount Theatre – Austin, TX +
06/02 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX +
06/03 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX +
06/04 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX +
06/07 – Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA #
06/08 – Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay – San Diego, CA #
06/10 – Theatre at the Ace Hotel – Los Angeles, CA #
06/11 – Fremont Theater – San Luis Obispo, CA #
06/12 – The UC Theatre – Berkeley, CA #
06/13 – The Center for the Arts – Grass Valley, CA #
06/15 – Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC %
06/16 – Woodland Park Zoo – Seattle, WA %
06/17 – Pioneer Courthouse Square – Portland, OR *
06/18 – Bing Crosby Theater – Spokane, WA %
06/19 – Egyptian Theatre – Boise, ID %
06/22 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO ^
06/23 – The Admiral Theater – Omaha, NE **
06/24 – Sheldon Concert Hall – St. Louis, MO **
08/28 – Brooklyn Bowl – Nashville, TN ~~
8/29 – Bijou Theatre – Knoxville, TN ~~
09/01 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN ~~
09/02 – Pabst Theatre – Milwaukee, WI ~~
09/03 – Out of Space @ Temperance Beer Co. – Evanston, IL ^^
09/04 – Nelsonville Music Festival – Nelsonville, OH
09/06 – White Eagle Hall – Jersey City, NJ ##
09/07 – Emerson Colonial Theatre – Boston, MA ##
09/08 – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY ##
09/09 – Filene Center at Wolf Trap – Vienna, VA ++
09/10 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA ##
09/12 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC ##
09/13 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA ##
9/16 – Alaska Center for the Performing Arts – Anchorage, AK
9/17 – Hering Auditorium – Fairbanks, AK
with Kara Jackson ~
M. Ward +
Leyla McCalla #
Gabby Moreno %
Indigo Girls *
Andrew Bird / Iron & Wine ^
Bendigo Fletcher **
She & Him ++
Disq ~~
Courtney Marie Andrews ^^
Sean Rowe ##
Pre-Order ‘Wild Creatures’
1. I’m An Animal
2. Lady Pilot
3. Halls of Sarah
4. Man
5. Star Witness
6. I Wish I Was The Moon
7. The Next Time You Say Forever
8. Favorite
9. Hell-On
10. Hold On, Hold On
11. Polar Nettles
12. Wild Creatures
13. Furnace Room Lullaby
14. A Widow’s Toast
15. Deep Red Bells
16. This Tornado Loves You
17. Winnie
18. Night Still Comes
19. Maybe Sparrow
20. Things That Scare Me
21. The Tigers Have Spoken
22. Set Out Running
23. Oh, Shadowless
