SOUND ADVICE Neko Case
Friday, Sept. 3 • Memorial Hall Has it really been nearly a quarter century since Neko Case started making records? Bill Clinton began his second term in the White House when her twangy solo debut, The Virginian, surfaced, revealing an artist with a gift for storytelling and a singing voice both powerful and seductive. On the other hand, Case’s enduring presence shouldn’t come as a surprise — her music is a timeless mix of moody torch songs and rootsy Folk, Pop and Country. A Virginia native, Case left home at 15, the result of an upbringing affected by her parents’ messy divorce. In 1994, after nearly a decade of soul-searching that would become a staple of her nomadic life, she enrolled in art school in Vancouver, Canada, where she would also expand her creative horizons as a drummer in various Post-Punk outfits. Armed with a fine arts degree four years later, Case released the aforementioned The Virginian, but it was the one-two punch of her next record, 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby, and her vocal contributions to a new Vancouver band called The New Pornographers that would break her to a wider audience. Three increasingly successful solo albums followed, as did contributions to four more New Pornographers records. In 2013, Case dropped arguably her best record, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, an impressively textured, emotionally satisfying effort that moves from majestic Power Pop to stark slow burners with equal effectiveness. Case’s most recent album, 2018’s Hell-On, surfaced not long after her then-home in Vermont burned to the ground, leaving her homeless and adding another chapter to her turbulent life and songwriting subject matter. As usual, she responded with perspective: “If somebody burned down your house on purpose, you’d feel so violated. But when nature burns your house down, you can’t take it personally.” Case performs at 8 p.m. Sept. 3 at Memorial Hall. Masks are required, as is proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours. (Jason Gargano)
Katy Kirby
Friday, Sept. 3 • MOTR Pub Katy Kirby was not raised on The Beach Boys, The Beatles, nor any of the Classic Rock bands that so many of our parents have passed down to our ears. For her evangelical Christian family in Spicewood, Texas, the house music was a little different. “My parents don’t know bands, but my dad loves barbershop quartets and they listen to a lot of worship music,” Kirby said in a Feb. 26 interview with
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Neko Case P H OTO : E B RU Y I L D I Z
TexasMonthly. “Once or twice a year, my dad will sucker all of us into learning a four-second barbershop part and it will take us an hour and a half to do, but it’s great.” These early singing sessions were part of what first drew Kirby to music, an attraction that would eventually lead to her blossoming career as a Post-Folk artist. In February, Kirby released her debut album, Cool Dry Place, with Texas-based label Keeled Scales. The nine-track record calls to mind the sweet, effortless vocals of early Jessica Lea Mayfield and the simple, expressive arrangements of Big Thief. In a way, the album is a comingof-age story centered on Kirby’s move from her sheltered, religious upbringing to Nashville, where she attended Belmont University. With space between her present and her adolescence, Kirby has been able to examine what the beliefs of her childhood meant to her now. Music was a catalyst in the process. “Me thinking about music as a thing to do definitely intersects with me losing my faith, and I was writing my way out of a lot of that confusion,” she said in a Vice interview from Jan. 28. With its delicate melodies and airy
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Katy Kirby P H O T O : J A C K I E L E E YO U N G
