Neko Case sings as if she has a secret. Whether on record or live, she’s beguilingly enigmatic, whether she’s onstage laughing at private jokes with backing vocalist/foil Kelly Hogan or singing, “My love, I am the speed of sound / I left them motherless, fatherless / Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths.”

Case is also the indie rock dream: a cool, beautiful woman who’s game enough to throw in with the New Pornographers, hip enough to cover Harry Nilsson and the Shangri-Las, and enough of a singer to validate her not just as a star but as a talent. This year’s Middle Cyclone is light years from the alt-country she started off singing, and takes her further down a more idiosyncratic path that’s emotional without being overly forthcoming and precise without being nailed down. Her lyrics have drifted toward fellow New Pornographer A.C. Newman’s in their elliptical quality, but a thread of natural imagery ties the songs together. Of course, she undercuts that thought by covering Sparks’ “Don’t Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,” leaving only her clear, rich voice to be trusted.