Neko Case has never taken the obvious path. The 38-year-old singer grew up poor, ran away from home and dropped out of high school at 15 — though she ended up earning a B.F.A. from a Canadian art school. Along the way, Case also became a staunch supporter of animal rights (her four dogs are rescued from shelters) and an avid kickboxer; she's also turned down major-label record deals, rebuffed Playboy's offer of a nude photo spread and once broke her hand punching a drunk asshole outside...

"I'm an animal," cries Neko Case on her fifth studio album, and there is something feral about her voice in full flight: It's a wild, woolly sound, part Patsy Cline, part coyote baying at the high desert moon. Case is joined here by some New Pornographers bandmates as well as members of Los Lobos and Calexico. The result is hypnotic alt–country twang, with reverb–slathered guitars ring...