Neko Case, Jon Rauhouse
The Vogue
Tuesday, April 10, 7 p.m., $20

Neko Case’s songs are full of lost souls. As a child, the alt-country musician listened to the folk tales her Ukrainian grandparents told her: dark, wicked tales that shaped the storytelling found on 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood — an album named to many year-end “best of” lists.

On April 10, Case brings her music, and those desperate souls wandering in her songs, to the Vogue as part of the Rock for Riley concert series.

Case, also a member of the indie-pop super group the New Pornographers, creates landscapes within her music so visually concrete you can walk through them, feeling the uneasiness around you. Her ability equals Nick Cave. In 2004, the Aussie gloom-and-doomer noticed, and he gave Case a supporting slot on his tour.

Much like Cave, a redeeming spirituality flows through Case’s music, best seen on “John Saw that Number,” a gospel piece about John the Baptist.

But what makes her gospel exclamations work is her voice. Despite the darkness, there is hope and salvation thanks to Case’s confident vocals. Her voice contains wisdom, while also carrying a no-nonsense edge capable of morphing into a smoky wisp of beauty.

In short, when Case sings, she can save your soul.