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Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

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Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Studio album by
Neko Case
ReleasedMarch 7, 2006
StudioWavelab Studios, Tucson
GenreAlternative country
Length35:43
LabelANTI-
ProducerNeko Case and Darryl Neudorf
Neko Case chronology
The Tigers Have Spoken
(2004) 		Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
(2006) 		Live from Austin, TX
(2007)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic85/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The A.V. ClubA−[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[4]
The Guardian[5]
Mojo[6]
NME8/10[7]
Pitchfork7.7/10[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
SpinB+[10]
Uncut[11]

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is the fourth solo album by American alt-country musician Neko Case, released March 7, 2006 by ANTI- Records. The album was found on many “Best of” lists that year and had a bonus disc released by ANTI- in November of the following year.[12]

Recording and production

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The album was recorded at Wave Lab Studios in Tucson, Arizona except the beginning of "John Saw That Number", recorded in a stairwell at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern; and "At Last", which was tracked at Toronto's Iguana studio. Case is backed by several collaborators, including bandmates Jon Rauhouse and Tom V. Ray, as well as frequent collaborators The Sadies, Giant Sand's leader Howe Gelb, vocalist Kelly Hogan, Calexico's Joey Burns and John Convertino, and Canadian cohorts Brian Connelly and Paul Rigby. Rachel Flotard of Seattle punk-pop combo Visqueen also guests, as does multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson of The Band. The album was engineered by Craig Schumacher and Chris Schultz, and produced and mixed by Neko Case and Darryl Neudorf. It sold 194,000 copies in the United States through December 2008.[13][needs update] Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Bonus Disc Version) was released November 6, 2007, which includes five additional songs. The original track listing was used for the Record Store Day 2015 re-release on red colored vinyl.[14]

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was produced by Darryl Neudorf and co-produced by Case. Neudorf helped mix, produce and engineer other Case albums including The Virginian (1997), Furnace Room Lullaby (2000), Blacklisted (2002), The Tigers Have Spoken (2005), Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Bonus Disc Version) (2007) and Middle Cyclone (2009). He helped produce and engineer for other artists such as Sarah McLachlan, The Sadies and The Mohawk Lodge.[15]

Regarding a cover of "Star Witness" by Canadian students Kate Macdonald and Janelle Blanchard, Case wrote via Twitter "Wow. That just made me bawl my eyes out. What beautiful singers. I'm not worthy...Holy god. They broke the shit out of my heart!!"[16]

Musical style, writing, and composition

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Upon its release, Fox Confessor was praised as Case’s most stunning album. The album covers a wide range of emotions in a variety of styles. Case blends gospel and early rock influences, and Case classified her style as “country-noir”.[17]

Much of the album is praised for masterful weaving of emotion and suggestive description. Case offers that the songs on this album were created by writing a lot of words and paring them back so that it is not “overly literal”. She gives hints and helps her listeners to use their imagination to fill in the gaps. “That Teenage Feeling” is praised as a 1950s-style pop ballad that suggests a memory of intense and passionate love,[18] while “Hold On, Hold On” tells the story of the artist leaving a wedding reception, relieved to be alone, with drugs from the bride. In “John Saw That Number”, Case mixes words of “an old American spiritual with a musical idea from India” [17] and “Widow’s Toast” is an example of the artist creating “more space on the record” in order to make what is there stand out. Case began recording the track with a full band, but the removed all components for the final product.[17] This track also deviates from the standard verse-chorus-verse structure of many contemporary songs.

Inspiration

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Most of the songs in this album are based on her life experiences. Case said on one of her interviews "I've always been fascinated by fairy tales, But we really don't have fairy tales anymore. Movies have taken their place, and modern fiction seems to be in this rut of the coming-of-age story, which is getting really boring. I'm trying to find things on the outer limits of experience. I really love the Eastern European fairy tales because they're not only dark but they're also funny and not overly moral."[19]

Reception and legacy

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Upon release, Fox Confessor was greeted with universal acclaim from music critics. Awarding it 4-and-a-half stars, AllMusic's Mark Deming lauded it as "rich, mature, and deeply satisfying".[2] Entertainment Weekly's Marc Weingarten praised the "beguiling spell" Case's "death-haunted folk".[4] Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork applauded the "natural grandeur" of Case's "peerless cries".[8]

In 2013, Treble dubbed Fox "[Case's] most haunting, lonely and dazzling work to date." They placed the album on their list of alt-country's essential records, praising its songs as "magnificent".[20] The site also recognized Fox's third track "Hold On, Hold On" in the genre's history, dubbing it "a haunted surf-twang barnburner".[21] Looking back on Fox for its 10th anniversary, Billboard's Kenneth Partridge named it "an indie-rock landmark" and "an album of ugly truths beautifully rendered."[22]


Accolades

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Publication Country List Year Rank Ref.
Paste US The 50 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time 2016
14
[23]
The 100 Best Indie Folk Albums of All Time 2020
12
[24]
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop: Top 10 Albums By Year, 1971-2017 2018
8
[25]
Treble 10 Essential Alt-Country Albums 2013
-
[20]

Track listing

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All songs written by Neko Case, except where noted.

  1. "Margaret vs. Pauline" – 2:52
  2. "Star Witness" – 5:16
  3. "Hold On, Hold On" (Case, The Sadies) – 2:46
  4. "A Widow's Toast" – 1:36
  5. "That Teenage Feeling" – 2:42
  6. "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" (Case, Paul Rigby) – 2:42
  7. "John Saw That Number" (traditional, Case) – 4:06
  8. "Dirty Knife" – 3:18
  9. "Lion's Jaws" (Case, The Sadies) – 2:28
  10. "Maybe Sparrow" – 2:37
  11. "At Last" – 1:35
  12. "The Needle Has Landed" (Case, The Sadies) – 3:45

Personnel

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Charts

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Chart (2006) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[26] 54
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[27] 4

As of 2013, sales in the United States have exceeded 233,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Reviews for Fox Confessor Brings The Flood by Neko Case". Metacritic. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Deming, Mark. "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood – Neko Case". AllMusic. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  3. ^ Phipps, Keith (March 7, 2006). "Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Weingarten, Marc (March 6, 2006). "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Simmons, Sylvie (March 3, 2006). "Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". The Guardian. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  6. ^ "Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". Mojo (149): 98. April 2006.
  7. ^ "Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". NME: 41. March 11, 2006.
  8. ^ a b Dombal, Ryan (March 6, 2006). "Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  9. ^ Wolk, Douglas (February 21, 2006). "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  10. ^ Hermes, Will (March 2006). "The Goth Next Door". Spin. 22 (3): 42. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  11. ^ "Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood". Uncut (107): 106. April 2006.
  12. ^ "Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Bonus Disc Version)". ANTI- Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Bonus Disc Version). Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  13. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (December 2, 2008). "New Neko Case Album Due In March". Billboard. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  14. ^ "10 Record Store Day Exclusive Releases Worth Lining Up For". The Stranger. April 15, 2015.
  15. ^ Operation Northwoods, "Darryl Neudorf Discography", "Operation Northwoods", March 15, 2012
  16. ^ "How to Break Neko Case's Heart: Sing "Star Witness" Like Angels".
  17. ^ a b c Kahn, Ashley. "Neko Case Surges Forward with 'Flood'". NPR Music. NPR. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  18. ^ Tucker, Ken. "Neko Case's 'Fox Confessor'". NPR Music. NPR. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  19. ^ Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2006
  20. ^ a b Treble staff (June 13, 2013). "10 Essential Alt-Country Albums". Treble. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  21. ^ Treble Staff (March 17, 2021). "A History of Alt-Country in 50 Essential Tracks". Treble. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  22. ^ Partridge, Kenneth (March 3, 2016). "Neko Case's 'Fox Confessor Brings the Flood' at 10: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  23. ^ Jackson, Josh (August 4, 2016). "The 50 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  24. ^ Paste Music Staff (May 20, 2020). "The 100 Best Indie Folk Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  25. ^ "Pazz & Jop: Top 10 Albums By Year, 1971-2017". The Village Voice. January 22, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  26. ^ "Neko Case Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  27. ^ "Neko Case Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  28. ^ "Neko Case's New 'Fight': Inside Her Most Revealing Album Yet". Billboard.
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