Neko Case, Union Chapel - music review

Grammy-nominated for her last two albums, Neko Case is finally reaching the wider audience she deserves. After a couple of decades singing with bands including The New Pornographers, and a solo career comprising country, folk and indie-rock, Case has matured into a sublime songwriter with an unofficial sideline in comedy.

The flame-haired singer-guitarist from Vermont, who was barefoot and wearing skeleton leggings, tickled fans’ funny bones between songs with bantering backing vocalist Kelly Hogan. “Are my nipples crooked again?” she asked Case.

Hogan then confided in us about her wardrobe malfunction: “She stopped me going on stage last night.”

There was also good-natured teasing of Jon Rauhouse, one of the beardy dudes in a band that’s been on the road for a wearying 15 months.

Admitting to technical problems and sickness, Case claimed that “morale is in the toilet”, though you wouldn’t have known from her effortlessly absorbing performance.

Bracing for Sunday had a jagged urgency and compelling storyline about a character shooting an incestuous abuser through his “jelly eye”, a sharp taste of Case’s noirish songwriting.

Case has spoken of the presence of death on her latest record, yet there was an adroit change of mood on City Swans, a lovely, galloping tune featuring suitably uplifting tambourine in this church.

It was also a perfect venue for her rich, resonant voice, which combined wonderfully with Rauhouse’s twanging pedal steel guitar on Deep Red Bells and Hogan’s harmonies on Local Girl.

The brilliant band adorned Case’s music with lilting banjo, spiky guitar and a subdued trombone, though her voice alone was captivating enough on torch song Night Still Comes.

After a riveting 90 minutes, the joyous finale of Ragtime confirmed that Case is incapable of writing a boring song. She deserves to win that Grammy next time.