Neko Case; from the forthcoming The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You (Anti-); streaming at npr.com
"What drug will keep the night from coming?" On an album that addresses grief and upheaval, the bell-toned singer-songwriter Neko Case croons slowly, nocturnally and with blunt reflection. Nothing close to cheerful or optimistic, the track's country-soul chorus – "you never held it at the right angle" – nevertheless soothes and releases a built-up tension. The "it" might be a hand-held mirror, for anyone too hard on themselves. As for the drug that keeps darkness at bay, Case's voice and song is all the anti-depressant most should need.