Neko Case's Church Music Sounds Heavenly

Trinity St. Paul's United Church

Toronto

on Apr 17 2009

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

04/20/2009 2:27pm

Eric Bachmann has released five albums as Crooked Fingers since Archers Of Loaf broke up in 1998, with the most recent being last year's independently released Forfeit/Fortune. I arrived a couple of songs into the group's opening set, where the singer/guitarist was accompanied by vocalist/bassist Miranda Brown and a keyboardist/drummer who's name I didn't catch, and was generally impressed.

The songs alternated between acoustic and electric, and the most richly textured of them all was "Sleep All Summer," which also featured Neko Case band member Jon Rauhouse on steel guitar. "Your Control," which Case sings on Forfeit/Fortune, and the older and more bouncy pop number "Angelina" were the other highlights of Crooked Fingers' performance.

The spring peepers that croak for more than half an hour on "Marais La Nuit" at the end of Case's recently released Middle Cyclone signalled the 9 p.m. arrival of the headliners on a stage that featured a video screen with a giant owl designed by Case's Chicago artist pal Kathleen Judge peering over the top.

The set featured 14 of Middle Cyclone's 15 songs (with "The Next Time You Say 'Forever'" being the only absentee), but began with the beautiful "Maybe Sparrow" from 2006's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. It was followed by Middle Cyclone's lead single, "People Got A Lotta Nerve," a great country-tinged pop song that really comes to life on stage.

Part of Middle Cyclone was recorded in Toronto, Case used to live in Vancouver, and she's always had a soft spot for Canada, so perhaps we got a more Canuck-heavy set than she plays south of the border.

Kelly Hogan did a fine job on Sarah Harmer's parts on "Fever" before a mild onslaught of Case/Sadies co-writes. Case strapped on the electric and Calgarian Paul Rigby's guitar had some snarl in "Hold On, Hold On," while Case's exquisite voice and Rauhouse's steel-playing shone on "The Pharaohs." Winnipeg drummer Barry Mirochnick pounded out a big beat on "The Tigers Have Spoken."

The final song of the night was a bit of a left field choice with another maple leaf connection, a cover of Sook-Yin Lee's "Knock Loud" that originally appeared on Case's 2001 EP, Canadian Amp.

Hogan, who seems quite comfortable in her dual role as backing vocalist and comic foil, also played a band-made instrument she called the "shapey" during Middle Cyclone's title track, which was performed in 3/4 waltz time.

The acoustics of Trinity St. Paul's United Church were incredible, but Case said the surroundings made her feel like she was "going to be in trouble," and it seemed the often bawdy and almost always entertaining banter between her and Hogan was toned down because of it. But the raven-haired frontwoman joked that she worried about scratching her nose on stage because people might think she was a "coke head," and the constant pulling up of her pants prompted a quip about her need for "ass implants." Hogan suggested wearing a unitard would be a simpler solution.

The harmonies on the bittersweet and darkly humorous Harry Nilsson cover "Don't Forget Me" were perhaps the best of the night, and that song led to Rauhouse playing banjo on "That Teenage Feeling" before the 65-minute set closed with Crooked Fingers' Miranda Brown joining in for the Case vocal tour de force, "This Tornado Loves You."

The cover of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" was the standout of the five-song encore, with the vocalists and musicians (who also included bassist Tom V. Ray) meshing wonderfully.

Case told anyone who'd be attending her second sold-out show at the church the next night that they could expect to hear some different songs, but that the set would be "comfortingly similar" to this one that deservingly earned her two standing ovations. She also said to look for her Toronto return at Massey Hall in July or August.

The spring peepers returned for "Marais La Nuit" as the satisfied audience (which included Buck 65 sitting a few pews behind me) made its exit.

I was relaxed, happy and thirsty, so I headed west a couple of blocks to Lee's Palace to see another act who played two sold-out shows in the city last week, Dave Wakeling's English Beat. Two hours spent skanking, sweating and imbibing was a wonderful way to cap off a night of great music.

Here's Case's set list:

"Maybe Sparrow"
"People Got A Lotta Nerve"
"Fever"
"Hold On, Hold On"
"The Pharaohs"
"Middle Cyclone"
"Deep Red Bells"
"I Wish I Was The Moon"
"I'm An Animal"
"Prison Girls"
"The Tigers Have Spoken"
"Margaret Vs. Pauline"
"Red Tide"
"Don't Forget Me"
"That Teenage Feeling"
"This Tornado Loves You"

Encore:
"Vengeance Is Sleeping"
"Polar Nettles"
"Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth"
"Magpie To The Morning"
"Knock Loud"