In the vivid world that Virginia-born alt-country chanteuse Neko Case summons up on her sixth solo album, love is an apocalyptic force of nature rampaging across the landscape and instinct inevitably forces us to devour one another. Middle Cyclone is stuffed full of striking images, tableaus of nature’s violent beauty that serve to illustrate the forces that drive our own thoughts and actions. Neko and co-producer Darryl Neudorf build an evocative and cohesive soundscape around those sentiments with the aid of her able backing band and guests including M. Ward, Sarah Harmer and The Band’s Garth Hudson.