The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
by Neko Case
  • Record Label: Anti
  • Release Date: Sep 3, 2013
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 38
  3. Negative: 2 out of 38

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  1. adhamhany
    Dec 24, 2013
    6
    A good album. Nothing amazing though. I do, however, enjoy the "Ragtime" track. The music is very uplifting. It's a clever move to put that track at the end of the album.
  2. PieceofMine
    Sep 5, 2013
    9
    This is easily her most sonically inaccessible album since 2002's Blacklisted, and maybe even more esoteric than that. The experimentation, however, is a necessary approach to keep the woman from being known only for her voice; she may, more than most singer-songwriters, need to rely on her song writing abilities more and more as she enters a more established, veteran phase of her career.This is easily her most sonically inaccessible album since 2002's Blacklisted, and maybe even more esoteric than that. The experimentation, however, is a necessary approach to keep the woman from being known only for her voice; she may, more than most singer-songwriters, need to rely on her song writing abilities more and more as she enters a more established, veteran phase of her career.

    The experimentation is also necessitated by the subject matter loss, resilience, complex reconciliation with angry feelings toward the past and comes off as her most novelistic (as well as autobiographical) effort in a catalog of visually robust songs. The voice, now legendary, serves as the listener's constant, a endlessly flexible yet always familiar entity that guides us through the ponderous, suffocating darkness in the middle of the album and toward the brilliant, rolling light in "Ragtime."    … Expand
  3. indiegalaxy10
    Sep 3, 2013
    8
    There's a positive change in her music, but her new sounds atmospheric and the rich textures are amazing. Her return is excellent not the best, but she is still a great artist.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best Album of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. Q Magazine
    Jan 27, 2014
    80
    Her latest album is a little more conventional but no less arresting. [Oct 2013, p.99]
  2. cokemachineglow
    Oct 22, 2013
    80
    The Worse Things Get is powerful and assured, and in making true of its promise--to fight harder, and to love one’s self in the face of adversity--it pulls off one of the hardest feats there is.
    Read full review
  3. Austin Chronicle
    Oct 4, 2013
    89
    Challenging, enigmatic, and melodic don't always go together, but coupled with Case's sleek vocals, they make The Worse Things Get ... a marvel.
    Read full review
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