The Winds.(Middle Cyclone)(Sound recording review)

The title of Neko Case's new album, "Middle Cyclone," is a reference to "mesocyclone," the core rotational structure of a thunderstorm, which can produce a tornado. This was not my interpretation of the phrase, which I took as a commentary on age, and on how Case turned thirty-eight last year: hair flying, throat open, poorly secured items be damned. Case's work on "Middle Cyclone"--the best of her career by a generous margin, and every song her own except for two covers--addresses youth, aging, marriage, death, change, and all that knobby stuff you run over on the way to your midpoint.

Nature and violence are the forces at work in "Middle Cyclone." Mockingbirds ...