Neko Case has built a successful career and a remarkable body of work out of firmly following her own muse, and while she can be a splendid collaborator, she creates her music entirely on her own terms. 2025's Neon Grey Midnight Green is, even by her standards, a very personal work, and she firmly controlled every aspect of the project -- she not only wrote all the songs (sometimes in collaboration with Paul Rigby, who played guitar on the sessions), she produced the album and recorded most of it at her own studio, Carnassial Sound in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It's a big, bold sounding work with intricate arrangements and even orchestral accompaniment on several tracks, but despite the size and scale of the music, Neon Grey Midnight Green has the emotional intimacy of overheard conversation. Case has said the songs were meant to pay homage to musicians, activists, and friends she lost in the years leading up to its creation. Each track reads like a character study of some memorable individual, honoring their virtues and their flaws with a sense of detail that makes clear how well she knew them and how much they meant to her. Case is a vocalist who lives up to the old cliché that they could sing the telephone book and make it work, but there's a subtle but deeply felt emotional vigor to these performances that ups her usual ante, such as the slinky late-night mood of "Louise," the angular vocalese of "Tomboy Gold," the elegant vintage pop of "Little Gears," the chiming pianos of "Winchester Mansion of Sound," and the ominous skronky guitars of the title cut. Case has never shied away from creating widescreen backdrops for her songs, and on Neon Grey Midnight Green, she's embraced a "go big or go home" approach that miraculously never overwhelms her or her material; she makes her characters memorable enough to bear her aural scrutiny, and she has coordinated a small army of studio players to lend this material depth and dynamics that aren't complex for their own sake but tell the stories with the richness and relief they deserve. Neko Case has made enough truly remarkable albums that calling any of them a masterpiece might be slighting another that deserves the honor, but Neon Grey Midnight Green finds her challenging herself and adding enough new elements to make it a genuine standout. It's a reminder that she's one of the most gifted singers and songwriters of her generation. Each of her albums is a gift, and this is no exception. ~ Mark Deming