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Apr 10, 2018 Neko Case By Christopher Roberts Photography by Emily Shur

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Neko Case is releasing a new album, Hell-On, on June 1 via ANTI-. Previously she shared its title track, “Hell-On” (which was one of our Songs of the Week), as well as a trailer for the album that featured her singing “Hell-On” while snakes slithered around her head. Now she has shared another song from the album, “Bad Luck.” She has also shared a short “Bad Luck” visual, which features Case in a burning house with the crown of cigarettes she wears on the album cover. Check out the song and visual below, followed by her upcoming tour dates.

While recording Hell-On in Stockholm, Case got a phone call at 3 a.m. that her house had burned down after her barn had caught on fire. A friend had saved her dogs, but not much else. The lyrics to “Bad Luck” were written prior to the fire, but took on new meaning when she recorded the song the day after the fire.

Case had this to say about the fire in a press release: “If somebody burned your house down on purpose, you’d feel so violated. But when nature burns your house down, you can’t take it personally.” Her house burned down soon after Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston, Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, and wildfires spread across California.

“In the big picture, my house burning was so unimportant,” Case added in the press release. “So many people lost so much more: lives and lives and lives.”

It’s been five years since Case’s last solo album, 2013’s lengthily titled The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You. Although she has also taken part in two New Pornographers albums since then and in 2016 she teamed up with k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs for the collaborative album case/lang/veirs.

Case self-produced Hell-On, although six tracks were co-produced with Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John in Stockholm, Sweden. Case mixed the album in Stockholm with Lasse Martin. The album features a slew of special guests, including Beth Ditto, Mark Lanegan, k.d. Lang, AC Newman, Eric Bachmann, Kelly Hogan, Doug Gillard, Laura Veirs, and Joey Burns.

A previous press release said Hell-On “is simultaneously her most accessible and most challenging album, in a rich and varied career that’s offered plenty of both. Hell-On is rife with withering self-critique, muted reflection, anthemic affirmation, and Neko’s unique poetic sensibility.”

Case had this to say about the album in the previous press release: “My name is Neko Case. I am a music producer, songwriter, and musician. I just finished a record called Hell-On with a cast of talented musicians, techs, label folks and friends.

“What I want you to know about me isn’t too much, nor do I want to over talk it. What you take away on your own, as a listener is most important. I worked really hard and I was present for every second of this project. Producing a record is a huge task and there were times I was deep in the weeds, but that is normal for a record that takes a year plus. The weeds aren’t so bad. There were a lot of break-through moments, belly-laughs, sleepless nights and grubby, shiny jeans. In the end it was all worth it and I am so proud of how it turned out, and I am so grateful to have worked with such dedicated, giving artists to make it happen.

“There were a few challenges during the making of this record from small (scheduling difficulties, and occasional miscommunication) to large (my house burning down while I was overseas.) But none of them are the story of this recording, the songs are the story. They are my best self. They are everything I’ve worked for since I was a kid, whether I knew it or not.

“I write songs from a feeling of solidarity with folks who feel alone or isolated, I think I’m trying to comfort people in this way. It’s not a forceful way rather ‘No commitment necessary;’ take it if you want it, take it as you can.

“My style is odd, I don’t know what genre this is. I don’t have a pretty voice or a trained voice, and I am constantly disappointed that I don’t have a ‘tough’ voice, no matter how hard I practice, but it’s mine, and for all its loud, heavy-handed, nasal, vibrato-less qualities I accept it. The closest sound I have found to compare it to is Bulgarian Folk singing. My Eastern ancestors could have been proud of me a century ago? I could have been a droning ‘caller of wasps’ perhaps? I just invented that job, I like the sound of it.

“The songs are who I believe myself to be and that will change, but for now that’s how it is and I’m very satisfied with that.”

Neko Case Tour Dates:

May 27 —Gorge Amphitheatre, WA @ Sasquatch Festival
May 28 —Boise, ID @ Summerfield At Memorial Stadium*
May 30 —Bend, OR @ Les Schwab Amphitheatre*
June 1 —Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre*
June 2 —San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre*
June 3 —Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre*
June 5 —Phoenix, CA @ Comerica Theatre*
June 8 —Irving, TX @ The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory*
June 9 —Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheatre*
June 10 —Sugarland, TX @ Smart Financial Centre*
June 12 —Rogers, AR @ Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion*
June 13 —Southaven, MS @ Bankplus Amphitheatre at Snowden Grove*
June 15 —Indianapolis, IN @ Farm Bureau Lawn at White River Amphitheatre*
June 16 —Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island*
June 17 —Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheatre*
June 19 —Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre*
June 20 —Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion*
June 22 —Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing*
June 23 —Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion*
June 24 —Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion*
June 26 —Wallingford, CT @ Oakdale Theatre*
June 28 —Bangor, ME @ Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion*
June 29 —North Adams, MA @ MASS MOCA*
June 30 —Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica*
July 1 —Detroit, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre*
July 3 —Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz Hall*
July 4 —Cooperstown, NY @ Brewery Ommegang*
July 6 —Madison, WI @ Breese Stevens Field*
July 7 —St. Louis, MO @ Peabody Opera House*
July 8 —Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre*
July 10 —Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre*
October 29 —Stockholm, SWE @ Nalen
October 30 —Copenhagen, DEN @ Bremen Theatre
November 1 —Berlin, GER @ Bi Nuu
November 2 —Cologne, GER @ Stadtgarten Cologne
November 4 —Brussels, BEL @ Rotonde - Botanique
November 6 —Dublin, IRE @ Vicar Street
November 7 —Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
November 8 —London, UK @ Barbican

*w/ Ray LaMontagne

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