Since 2018, Neko Case has published a memoir, collaborated again with the New Pornographers, and continued working on songs for a hopefully Broadway-bound musical. What she hasn’t done since then is roll out a record under her own name, but that drought ends in September, when Case releases Neon Grey Midnight Green, her first non-compilation album in seven years.
The album is previewed with its first single, “Wreck.” An homage to the overwhelming, irresistible power of new love, the song is a jubilant sonic whirlwind all its own, as Case explores whether her feelings are mutual: “But maybe you want this too?/Do I look like the sun to you?/Do I blaze freckles onto your face/I bet I, bet I, bet I do,” she sings.
According to a statement, Neon Grey Midnight Green, out Sept. 26, “pays tribute to the musicians, producers and activists who have passed away in recent years, all artists Neko was lucky enough to call not just influences but close friends.” In particular, “Winchester Mansion of Sound” drew its inspiration from Dexter Romweber of the Flat Duo Jets, a Case friend and collaborator who died in 2024. Tucked into “Match-Lit” is a snippet of the Mickey and Sylvia oldie “Love Is Strange,” a salute to Dallas Good of the Sadies, another Case friend, who died in 2022. (The two would often sing it together.) “He really loved women and treated me the same as other musicians,” said Case of Good in a statement. “I was a peer, and that was something I really needed.”
Recorded at Carnassial Sound, Case’s home studio in Vermont, the album was produced by Case herself. “There are so few producers who are women, nonbinary, or trans,” Case (who identifies as gender fluid) said in a statement. “People don’t think of us as an option. I’m proud to say I produced this record. It is my vision. It is my veto power. It is my taste.”
Earlier this year, Case published her memoir, The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, which detailed her hardscrabble and often bizarre life growing up in Washington state.
For nearly a decade, Case has also been toiling away on songs for a musical adaptation of the classic (and still relevant) 1991 film Thelma & Louise with the film’s director, Callie Khouri, who wrote the book for the show. “I was the target audience for that movie,” Case said recently. “I was exactly the right age. I saw it trillions of times.” Plans call for a possible Broadway run in the future, but until that happens, Case will start a national tour to promote Neon Grey Midnight Green in Woodstock, New York, on Oct. 1.
Neon Grey Midnight Green Track List
1. “Destination”
2. “Tomboy Gold”
3. “Wreck”
4. “Winchester Mansion of Sound”
5. “An Ice Age”
6. “Neon Grey Midnight Green”
7. “Oh, Neglect…”
8. “Louise”
9. “Rusty Mountain”
10. “Little Gears”
11. “Baby, I’m Not (A Werewolf)”
12. “Match-Lit”
