Joanna Newsom is quite an acquired taste for many. Namely her singing - this makes her a very polarising artist. Either you love her, or you hate her. Well, she's certainly got one of the most unique voices in the business - instantly recognisable after hearing it once. An American harpist, she's a pioneer in avante-garde modernism. Think of her as a female Bob Dylan with a harp, if you will.
So far in her career, she's released two albums - The Milk-Eyed Mender and Ys. Both rather distinctive in their design, as well. The Milk-Eyed Mender was primarily a stripped down effort - just a raw performance by Newsom and her harp.
Ys, on the other hand, was Newsom accompanied by a full orchestra. The songs on Ys were also radically different from The Milk-Eyed Mender - the lengths, for one thing. Ys consists of five songs that span across nearly an hour, as opposed to her previous effort, where the songs were of standard lengths. Quite a different step for her.
I personally prefer Ys over Milk-Eyed Mender, just because I'm a sucker for orchestra done well. :P
I also believe that her vocals also improved from her previous album - much easier for new listeners.
I'm just going to give this album one overall score, as opposed to rating the tracks individually. It's just something I can't do with this album - whenever I listen to it, I end up listening to the whole thing. Also, this album is more something that deserves lyrical analysis - not exactly my forte, but I really do enjoy the music, despite my difficulty in describing each song individually.
01 - Emily (12:07)
This is my favourite track - I think the arrangements here probably tip it towards the top. It's also a song that I personally enjoy all the way through - not a dull moment.
Starts off low-key - and I mean really low-key. Some quiet pizzicato strings give us a hint as to what is to come. The strings finally show themselves at 0:50, and what follows is beautiful, in my opinion.
I really can't comment on the different sections - everything flows so smoothly and softly. The song just glides through, while Newsom croons over the top of everything. The lyrics however, are definitely the highlight. Newsom has an amazing mastery over words.
And, Emily - I saw you last night by the river
I dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the water
Frowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever,
In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror
Beautiful. The amazing thing is that she isn't trying to be pretentious, unlike many bands I've heard.
02 - Monkey & Bear (9:29)
An interesting little bit of overdubbing with her voice takes place at the start of the song. For some reason, this always makes me think of that children's song - Teddy Bears' Picnic. Don't let that put you off, though, haha. Just some nostalgic connection there.
03 - Sawdust & Diamonds (9:54)
This song is a good showcase of her abilities on the harp. Much of this is just her and the harp - one of the less orchestrally orientated songs.
04 - Only Skin (16:53)
This song contains all elements of the album, as it should, being the longest track. There are solo harp sections, and beautiful orchestral parts.
05 - Cosmia (7:15)
The shortest track on the album happens to be one of the most beautiful as well. Simply not much more to say, really - I've described the album's sound as a whole already.
Despite how I think I've made it sound (ie. very samey throughout) I personally find it very engaging throughout. However, this definitely isn't something that one can just leap into - like I said earlier, it really is an acquired taste. Something that needs to be relistened to perhaps months after the inital taste. Once you start to enjoy it, however, it's one beautiful masterpiece. The album as a whole leaves an impression, but doesn't actually leave any actual distinctive traces in your mind - it's purely mood. A strange feeling, really. It's memorable in a different sense than most music, and that's what in turn makes it memorable to me.
Probably the only song I would recommend anyone to start with who has an open mind would be Emily (Part I) (Part II). If you thoroughly enjoy that, the rest of the album would be heavily recommended.
7.8/10
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