|
''Middle Cyclone'' is the fifth studio album of American alternative country singer-songwriter Neko Case, released on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 on the ANTI- record label. Her first solo effort in three years, Case stated that "it took a very long time to make." As the title of the album suggests, the record's lyrics are permeated with imagery of tornadoes and, more-generally, nature. Thematically ''Middle Cyclone'' concerns how Case's upbringing socialized her to form strong emotional attachments to nature and animals, to the neglect of human relationships, and her reconciling "the fact that I need love". ''Middle Cyclone'' features a variety of guest performers, including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, Kurt Heasley of Lilys, and Giant Sand.〔 It also features two prominent covers: "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" by Sparks and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson. ''Middle Cyclone'' debuted to strong reviews from contemporary mainstream and independent music critics. In particular, Case's voice garnered unanimous praise for its strength, clarity, and emotional range. In December 2009 Case was nominated for two Grammys for her work on ''Middle Cyclone'': Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Recording Package (the latter nomination shared with artist Kathleen Judge). ==Conception and recording== The recording of ''Middle Cyclone'' took place in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. Case herself stated that only the "piano orchestra" sessions were recorded in Vermont and that the rest was recorded using WaveLab in Tucson. At the time, Case was transitioning from living in Tucson to a recently purchased farm in Vermont, where she recorded in a barn on the property.〔 Case described how the barn was retrofitted to suit her musical needs, as well as the "piano orchestra" that appears in three of ''Middle Cyclones tracks: Of the eight pianos that Case rescued, six were playable after two days of tuning by two tuners.〔 One was a broken player piano, which Case decided had the potential to be repurposed.〔 The open and unconstrained nature of the barn-as-recording studio resulted in several of the tracks on ''Middle Cyclone'' having elements akin to a field recording. Case asserted that because of the barn "We ended up with robins on the recording and frogs and all kinds of stuff. And with a barn, you just don't have control, which was another element I really liked."〔 "Polar Nettles" features the aforementioned birdsong 39 seconds into the track, as well as a chorus of spring peeper frogs at the track's end. (The latter fortuitous event was recorded on video and published on ANTI-'s YouTube channel.) "Don't Forget Me" contains a gust of wind close to the song's end.〔 The final track, "Marais La Nuit" (French for "Marsh at Night"), is an actual field recording of the environs around a pond on Case's farm.〔 When asked about the track in an interview with ''Paste magazine'', Case responded "I actually went down to the pond and recorded that myself."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Middle Cyclone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|