Joanna Newsom - Ys
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Free Music Notes for Ys
Free Music Review: I heart Joanna!
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm ashamed to admit that it's taken me until this year to discover Joanna Newsom for myself. I can't believe I denied myself this pleasure all this time. Ys is truly unlike anything else out there--grand, otherworldly, inventive, magical, emotive and heart-wrenching. In my 20+ years of being an obsessive music fan, I haven't felt this way about an artist in a long time.
I admit that her voice on Milk-Eyed Mender was sometimes a tad bit grating, but her vocals on Ys is so interesting and complex--I can't seem to get tired of listening to it and discovering all the nuances. I especially love the uncontrolled high-pitched waves (like right before she starts singing on Only Skin). I know her voice has developed even more by now, but I hope she never loses those beloved squeaks. I feel I don't even need to comment on her intricate and accomplished harp-playing, anyone can tell you how great it is.
I really appreciate her decision to write long compositions which truly enables her to show off her complex musical capabilities and training. After hearing Joanna, it's really hard to sit through 3-chord rock bands which sound so amateur-ish in comparison.
I do wish that the recoding had put equal weight on the volume of the harp though--just as one can hear during her live shows on youtube (the one recorded in Philly on Nov 06 being the best example; please check that out if you're not sure about buying this album, then buy the album!). I can't wait for the new recording and tour!
Free Music Review: New album, new direction, but same great talent and sensibilities
Hit: 5 Stars
Joanna Newsom, as I should have expected, charts a new course for her impressive second full length album, Ys, from that of her also beautiful debut, The Milk Eyed Mender. Though very different, it is no less deeply felt, fresh, and memorable, and again, all together beautiful. Though her singing seems somewhat more controlled on this album (though no less sincere), the album is not really more accessible. I'd actually say it is less accessible. This is not easy listening, but it is very rewarding listening. It charts a grand, epic course in contrast to the folk-y, relatively minimal approach of her first album. Indeed, the songs are of epic storybook quality running 7 to 15 minutes, with many shifts and movements in the music and a myriad of words, word pictures, fairy tale stories, and mythologies revealed in the lyrics. I think it is worth reading the lyrics during a later listen as they are poetry bearing multiple and close readings. Though this album is grand and epic, it is nonetheless very human and emotive, qualitites reminiscent of Newsom's debut. Newsom's harp playing and vocal phrasing, Van Dyke Parks orchestral arrangements, and the poetry of the epic lyrics all contribute effectively to spread the table for a delightful musical and lyrical feast that is worth coming back to and reveling in again and again.Free Music Review: Where monkey and bear play
Hit: 5 Stars
A newcomer to my ears, Joanna Newsom presents something that is at the same time familiar and unique. Shallow ears my hear only a Bjork-like vocal style and a mediocre harp player (and a Bjork crusher, she is), but for those willing to listen to each of these five wonderfully written epic folk pieces--well, nothing that can be written could be called something other than an understatement. You really have to hear this to begin to know how to perceive it. Her voice squeeks and squeels; it also roars and soothes, ducks and punches.
A lot is to be said of the lyrical content--the liner notes could be read as a child's lullaby and still have tremendous affect--and with what she has, she uses very well. It's mostly her lone harp playing, but is occasionally given accompaniment by a lute or banjo or flute. While it's not really a "concept" album, it holds a cohesion that begs it be taken that way, and maybe it should be, because each track tells an equally interesting story; free verse, free play, it gives and takes. And it's fantastical nature is definitely what brings it all together--Joanna herself even looks like she stepped out of a page written by Tolkien, or Pullman. At her harp, she's astoundingly beautiful, and this album traverses everyone of the the beautiful gullies that is her voice.
Free Music Review: A Whitman in our Midst
Hit: 5 Stars
Stop, everybody. If this is not some kind of bizarre home-schooled, earlier-poetry channeling event, then we have a true genius in our midst, whose like hasn't been seen since Whitman's lilacs bloomed.
Two days of research at least shows me that at least 1) she is a real person 2) Her lyrics are down on paper.
As a nasty skeptic, I would say, is the Dad or Mom a Great Poet, whom we haven't yet met? And does Joanna sing/recite his or her own lyrics? It seems impossible for such a young woman to know and use so many archaic words and phrases, and display such an uncanny lyric skill. But her work is too quirky NOT to be real.
In fact, I believe in Joanna. I feel a truth in everything about her. Just a gut feeling.
I'd throw my hat in the ring for a straight-up genius.
And if so, I hope the dear girl has iron-clad protection so that she can keep singing and playing for us. Interpreting our skies. (Well, Emily will do that, we hope). Keep living along. Don't listen to what people tell you about how cool you are. It's hard even for us Dirt Sisters.
You'll love my books, but that's just a minimal aside.
Here's to those husks that keep rattling!!
XX, Hannah Hinchman
Free Music Review: Fantastic Voyage
Hit: 5 Stars
This cd will take you places in your mind that you didnt know where there, without drugs. Its a big, extravagant departure from her previous album but not in a bad way at all. Youll be hard pressed not to get lost in this album, if you can find the time for a dedicated listen. I usually dont care too much for string arrangements and the like but it makes perfect sense in this setting.
Emily is probably the best track on here. Its takes a few minutes to warm up but when it does its awesome. The best lines come from this song as well- "that the meteorite is the source of the light, and the meteor's just what we see, and the meteoroid is a stone thats devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee. And the meteorite's just what causes the light, and the meteor's how its perceived, and the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void, that lies quiet in offering to thee."
Cosmia is a great song too, the word arrangements and cadence are intriguing. "Dried rose petals, redbrown circles, framed your eyes and stained your knuckles." I dont know what it means but its catchy. Great album, only 5 songs but the shortest song on here is 7 minutes long. Expand your horizons, open your mind and let Joanna take you somewhere.