Published in 2025
245 pages
7 hours
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case’s contralto voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a “flamethrower,” “a powerhouse [which] seems like it might level buildings,” “a 120-mph fastball,” and a “vocal tornado”. Critics also note her idiosyncratic, “cryptic,” “imagistic” lyrics, and credit her as a significant figure in the early 21st-century American revival of the tenor guitar. Case’s body of work has spanned and drawn on a range of traditions including country, folk, art rock, indie rock, and pop and is frequently described as defying or avoiding easy generic classification
What is this book about?
An unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary life-one forged through a poverty-stricken childhood in ‘slummy, one-horse towns’; obsessive desire; bursts of comedy; and indispensable friendships, reflecting on the way art, music, and a deep connection to nature helped her on a singular journey to become a beloved, Grammy-nominated artist.
Neko Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In The Harder I Fight The More I Love You, Case brings her trademark candour and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl ‘raised by two dogs and a space heater’ in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally-acclaimed talent.
In luminous, sharp-edged prose, Case shows readers what it’s like to be left alone for hours and hours as a child, to take refuge in the woods around her home, and to channel the monotony and loneliness and joy that comes from music, camaraderie, and shared experience into art.
The Harder I Fight The More I Love You is a rebellious meditation on identity and corruption, and a manifesto on how to make space for ourselves in this world, despite the obstacles we face.
