Is it just me, or is this new album a complete leap forward for her?
Wow.
So it’s out already, huh? I should get it.
I bought Blacklisted a couple of months ago after seeing people rave about it here. It’s great.
I haven’t heard it yet, but if it’s as good as Blacklisted I’ll be first in line when it comes out.
It’s all her stuff, and she’s doing a mix of genre: None of the songs seem to fit a clear genre.
She’s past her let’s-channel-Patsy-Cline phase, and clearly, New Pornographers rubbed off on her a bit, including Dan Bejar.
Her songs are just amazing, and they’re all over the place. She hasn’t left behind her early work, but she has clearly grown past it somehow.
This stuff is the stuff that I’ve wanted to hear from Neko.
I’ve ordered it but it still hasn’t shipped 
(I’m tempted to download a pirate copy to tide me over if it doesn’t get here soon!) If it’s only half as good as Blacklisted, I’ll be a happy camper.
Giving it the first listen now (it’s on iTunes). It’s terrific. Definitely a step forward, though I can’t quite put my finger on how. Maybe a little less recognizably country in favor of something new and original; she seems to have finally hit on a style that’s uniquely hers.
Listening to it now. Doesn’t really sound Pornographers-ish to me, but I don’t know them that well. I love it, loved Blacklisted.
Saw her about 5 years ago in a small club. She comes out wearing a simple blue sweatshirt and blue jeans, her hair was tied up. No Hollywood glamour. Simple down to earth woman.
I **will ** marry her one day.
I started a duplicate thread on this by accident. Apologies all around.
I got my preordered copy in today’s mail from Amazon.com. So far, I love it. I’ve only listened to it once through, while doing other things, but I already choose “Hold On, Hold On” and “John Saw That Number” as my favorite tracks. This is most definitely subject to change.
I love Neko! I got into her through the New Pornographers, the mostly-Canadian power pop supergroup she sings with, and from there, fell deeply in love with her sultry, smoky alt-country solo career. I have all of her solo albums except the somewhat-rare Canadian Amp EP, and Blacklisted, her third album (and my first), is far and away my favorite. Fox Confessor is her fourth studio album but her fifth overall, following the live CD The Tigers Have Spoken (which is also good, but not quite as good as Blacklisted or my initial impression of this new one).
All of her stuff shows a continuum of development:
The Virginian is straight-up, straight country, old school style.
Blacklisted and Furnace Room Lullaby are alt-country, sorta.
The Tigers Have Spoken is a short, powerful live album.
Her work on Mass Romantic is strong pop, with more strong pop on The Electric Version. In Twin Cinema she’s more prominent, and deeper.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood integrates her Alt-country and Power pop influences. I’m not sure how to classify it, other than to say that is stuff sounds the most like Neko, and that it is a genre-buster.
If you want an interesting contrast, compare Fox Confessor Brings the Flood to Jenny Lewis’ new solo effort. Neko and Jenny both appeal to American Roots, including Gospel, with strong emphasis on harmonies.
I haven’t heard anything off of it yet. Those of you who have, are any of the tracks as impressive as the song Furnace Room Lullaby?
If you liked “Furnace Room Lullabye” (the song or the album of the same name) even the slightest bit, pick up the new album, and get Blacklisted too, while you’re at it.
I’m going to get it tomorrow! Woo hoo! I’m glad to hear that it’s power-poppy. You can never have too much power pop in your life. 
Tracks #2, #11 and #12 are really strong.
The songs don’t bear comparison to her previous work, they’re good, they’re great in fact, but they’re different.
What Neko’s doing in this album is some sort of Power-Pop/Ballad/Alt-Country/Gospel fusion thing.
Her voice is pretty much clear in this work, with minimal twang. But The Voice makes an appearance, and she does swoop around sonically.
The words are of poetic quality, with lots of deeply opaque narrative and imagery. The music itself is prolific, drawing on many genres, and using a wide variety of instruments.
I know this reads a bit thickly, but it’s true. This album is influenced as strongly by New Pornographer/Dan Behar as it is by The Sadies. It’s a fusion of Power Pop and Alt Country.
Make that Dan Bejar, who solos as Destroyer. If you think Neko’s stuff is opaque, Destroyer’s is utterly opaque.
I like #12 too, the background vocals make it differ a bit from the rest.
I listened to it about 25 times since I bought it (nonstop in the work pc), and I give it a 7 out of 10. Blacklisted gets a 9. It’s good, but doesn’t seem to have the killer songs like Blacklisted did. I’m not so sure I’d say this is power-pop. If it is more ‘power-pop’ than the last, it isn’t by much.
#1,…The girl with the parking lot eyes…
But all in all, it’s still good, and better than pretty much anything else I’ve heard in along time. It may grow on me in the future though.
Harp Magazine ran a pretty great interview with Case recently, FYI.
My favorite Fox Confessor tracks so far are “John Saw that Number,” “That Teenage Feeling,” and “The Needle Has Landed.” But I’m finding, after several listens, that the album is less about standout tracks and more about setting into the mood. After I listened to it twice, I couldn’t remember any tunes – but a couple of hours later, I realized I’d been humming several of them off and on.
Neko may have been influenced by power pop on this, by the way (she cites Queen as an influence in that interview), but the songs aren’t power pop by any conventional definition of the word.
I like tracks #2, #10, #11, #12 the most. I’m playing the Hell out of this album. The Voice plays prominently in those tracks. I just love it when she cuts loose with the full effects of that voice.
Odd as it sounds, “Maybe Sparrow” is my current favourite, mainly 'cos it’s sad, and because of the swoopy vocals.
I’ll see her in a small venue in April. If she comes to your town, see her live. Seriously.
Well, Furnace Room Lullaby is still my favourite album, but I really like them all, and the new one gets high marks from me. As has been mentioned previously in this thread, it’s much less “country” than her previous releases… she’s more Bobby Gentry than Patsy Cline this time around.
Neko complete-ists should also check out her first band, [Maow](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002RFZ/103-3466666-1970254?v glance&n=5174)… as well as her on again, off again side project with Carolyn Mark, The Corn Sisters.
Neko was in another band called Cub, which I believe was a punk band where she played drums. I’ve never heard them either. One of these days I need to pick up the Corn Sisters, Maow, and Cub CDs, but I need to break down and get Canadian Amp first.
IIRC she only appears on a couple of track on Cub’s album, Betti Cola, playing the drums.