This next album got inserted into
the lineup as a new album. I don’t do that much, but I will if it means I can
line it up with a review of the live show as well. That live show review
follows below, but first the record…
Disc 882 is….Case/Lang/Veirs
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? A picture by artist Elliott
Green. Ordinarily I don’t like this collage-like style of painting, but I find
the colours soothing here.
How I Came To Know It: I found out about this project
when I heard the three artists involved were doing a show in Victoria. I’m a
huge Neko Case fan, and kd lang rarely lets me down, so I decided to take a
chance on Laura Veirs rounding out the trio.
How It Stacks Up: This is the only album by this particular
combination of artists, so it doesn’t really stack up. It holds up favourably
against the Case and Lang albums in our collection, though.
Ratings: 4 stars
When I
heard that Neko Case, kd lang and Laura Veirs had teamed up to make a record I
really wanted it to be good. It was.
I’m a
huge (if relatively recent) fan of Neko Case and have voraciously been
digging through her music for the past several years. I’m a bit pickier when it
comes to kd lang, but every time I review one of her records she wows me. Laura Veirs was new to me, which gave the album the flair of discovery and
novelty that a music collector like me is always craving.
The
opening track, “Atomic Number” is one
of the album’s stronger songs, and gives you a good idea of what to expect.
Each singer gets a chance to showcase the pure quality in their voice, before
they three of them land the first of the record’s many exquisite harmonies.
The song
also begins with a refutation of what the singers are not. Not a freckled maid,
or a fair-haired girl, or a pan of milk. The three singers are clear (but
gentle) in noting this is a new project, to be taken on its own terms, based on
the internal spark of talent each of them is bringing to the table. At least
that’s how I took it.
Not
surprisingly on an album made by three talented singer-songwriters, the album
is a celebration of the artistic process. The tender “Song for Judee” is about Judee Sill, a folk singer who died too
young of a drug overdose, but is lovingly remembered by Laura Veirs in the
song. On “Best Kept Secret” and “I Want To Be Here” Veirs also takes the
lead on songs about artists, with the first song being an up-tempo celebration
and the second, a resolute and stoic stand in favour art for art’s sake. These
lines really appeal to me:
“The hungry fools who rule the
world can’t catch us
Surely they can’t ruin
everything.
I just want to be here with you
Not bracing for what comes next.”
Written
down they lose something, but in the tight harmonic embrace of these three
voices, they’ll give you a shiver.
I didn’t
know Veirs before this. In anticipation of the concert, I checked out some of
her earlier solo stuff and honestly didn’t love it. That said, there is no
denying she is the glue that holds the record together, grounding the slightly
wild Case and Lang in a folk foundation the record needs to gain traction.
Of all
three voices showcased on this record, my favourite will always be the big
brassy range of Neko Case. Two of the songs she is featured on (“Behind the Armory,” “Down I-5”) are already favourites. On “Behind the Armory” Case goes from big
power vocals down to a sweet and soft as she sings the refrain of “still I want you to love me” with a tender
and vulnerable tone that will break your heart.
Everytime
kd lang takes the driver’s seat, the record takes on a delightful smoky lounge
feel. “Honey and Smoke” “Blue Fires” and “Why Do We Fight” all have a crooner quality that gives the album a
nice range of style, without ever feeling discordant.
The
album had me thinking of Sarah McLachlan, and I can feel her influence pouring
down through the ages. There is a neo-nineties echo and layering of piano and
strings in places, but it is kept stripped down and reserved, and so rarely feels
intrusive.
Overall,
this is a solid record that after four straight listens only became more and
more enjoyable. If you like any of these three artists and don’t know the other
two, then this is a great way to branch out.
Best
tracks: Atomic Number, Song for Judee, Behind the
Armory, Best Kept Secret, I Want to be Here, Down I-5, Why Do We Fight
THE
CONCERT – June 28, 2016 at the Royal Theatre, Victoria
It feels like forever since I’d been to a show at
the Royal Theatre, which is one of my favourite Victoria venues to see a
concert. It beats out the Alix Goolden Hall for one simple reason: assigned
seating.
Before the show Sheila and I did the customary
checking out of our fellow concert goers. It was an older crowd, some of whom
seemed more like Jazz Fest illuminati than folk fans. I suspect the high ticket
price kept a lot of younger fans away, and that was a bit of a shame, but when
you’ve got three superstars in one venue, it is going to be costly.
The opening act was an indie folk singer named Andy
Schauf. I’m told he is a multi-instrumental phenom, but this venue did him no
favours. His performance put the room on Beige Alert. The sound was terrible,
and his tunes sounded like mud. I couldn’t understand a word he sang, nor did
he hold my attention. If anything, he made me a bit drowsy. The crowd applauded
politely, and I joined in. He seemed like a nice kid, so what the hell.
Schauf’s best song was “Early to the Party” so I decided to check out the studio version
and give him a second chance but nope, I didn’t like that either.
Then it was time for the main event, which stirred
the crowd immediately out of its lethargy. For a crowd as ‘vintage’ as this
one, they did a fine job of keeping the energy up, without ever being rude. I
give the crowd an A (I’d give them an A+ if they hadn’t started yelling for the
painfully over-covered “Hallelujah”
during the encore).
After a hilarious joke from Lang about how this act
was supposedly part of Jazz Fest (Jazz Fest is not picky about the genre of
their headliner each year), both the band and the sound got off to an awkward
start. Usually, the sound at the Royal is over-amplified but this time they
were too low, and it was really hard to get into it. Fortunately the sound guy
quickly fixed it, and the show’s audio got progressively better as the night
went on.
As for the band, you can see these three gifted
performers are still taking each other’s measure in the live experience. Case
and Lang are both alpha dogs, and it took them a few songs to find the middle
ground. Laura Veirs was the unsung hero throughout, and deserves a lot of the
credit for making this thing work. Just like on the album, she is the glue that
held the performance together, and by three or four songs in Neko and kd had
found each other and were shining and – just as importantly – helping each
other shine.
Lang is one hell of a performer, and has an almost
child-like delight in music and being on stage that is infectious as hell. She
dances around, barefoot in oversized pajamas having such a good time you can’t
help but join in. It is like the world’s best trip to band camp. Her rendition
of Neil Young’s “Helpless” was
stunning, and earned her a deserved mid-show standing ovation. Her stories were
funny, and the only down-note was her rendition of “Constant Craving” in the encore, where it felt like she was tired
of singing that song, and desperate to change the phrasing somehow just to make
it fresh again.
It was obvious that the crowd was overwhelmingly
there to see Lang, but I was mostly interested in Neko Case, and she didn’t
disappoint. She even had the good grace to set up her mic on my side of the
stage. She played a couple of her own tracks, and really showed her punk soul
on “I’m a Man” viscerally shouting “I am the man in the fucking moon!” at
the Jazz Fest crowd, who seemed to really enjoy a good swear. She also played her
guitar like a woman possessed. Case is obviously “the cool one” in the group,
and gave the show a rock edge that completed the triangle of the folksy Veirs
and the loungey Lang.
Despite each woman pulling 2-3 tracks from their
solo work, the show was mostly a celebration of the new collaborative record,
which made me happy because (as I’ve noted above) there is plenty of great
material to draw on. Highlights for me included Case belting out “Behind the Armory” and the encore
performance of “I Want To Be Here”
which had solid harmonies. Regrettably, “Atomic
Number” which is a great song, got performed early on in the show when the
sound and the vibe weren’t quite established, but it is a minor quibble.
While the show took a while to get going, it ended
up being a great celebration of music by three great artists. I would wholeheartedly
see them again, and hope they make a second album together.
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