It’s not clear what the interval is each time but every few years Neko Case breaks to the surface with a new album and reminds listeners that she is one of the great songwriters. Case has announced the release on 26th September 2025 via ANTI-, of her new album “Neon Grey Midnight Green”. Her first new music this decade, “Neon Grey Midnight Green” follows 2018’s “Hell-On”, which attracted critical accolades. Her latest is no less urgent but carries a deep blue streak of sentimentality. The album pays tribute to the musicians, producers and activists who have passed away in recent years, all artists Case was lucky enough to call not just influences but close friends.
More than any of her past albums, “Neon Grey Midnight Green” was recorded live with a full band – even breaths and shirt-sleeve rustlings were kept in the final mix as a reminder that “humans were here”. The recording primarily took place at Case’s own Vermont studio, Carnassial Sound, with additional sessions in Denver, Colorado with the PlainsSong Chamber Orchestra and in Portland, Oregon with Tucker Martine. “There are so few producers who are women, nonbinary, or trans”, says Case, who identifies as gender fluid and uses she/her pronouns. “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”.
This will come as no surprise to any who read her memoir “The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You” published January 2025 which was favourably reviewed in these pages and held out to be “an absorbing and emotional read”. Case has also been hard at work composing the musical adaptation of the 1991 Academy Award-winning motion picture “Thelma & Louise“ after being personally selected by the original screenwriter and Academy Award winner Callie Khouri.
The first single ‘Wreck’ is an exploration of the soul-shattering feeling that is finding love with another fallible human being. “I know it’s selfish / But you’re the sun now! / And it’s a big job / One you didn’t apply for… / But maybe you want this too? / Do I look like the sun to you?” she enquires as the music lifts to the sky.
