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128 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the year's most amazing and original masterpieces, November 18, 2006
It is the rare album that invites virtually no comparisons with any work that has preceded it, just as Joanna Newsom fills an utterly unique musical niche. By training a classical harpist, most of her collaborations have been with alt-rock figures. Many classify her as a folk performer, but she generally eschews the folk scene to direct her music at indie rockers. For instance, she has been a member of two different alt-rock bands, while YS was recorded by indie rock uber producer Steve Albini, though the strings were arranged by multi-faceted genius Van Dyke Parks and produced by composer Jim O'Rourke. The latter three names alone should gesture at how difficult Newsom's music is to describe.
My first exposure to Joanna Newsom came through her previous solo album, THE MILK-EYED MENDER, which while similar to YS was far less ambitious and epic. YS is to THE MILK-EYED MENDER what Van Morrison's ASTRAL WEEKS was to BLOWIN' YOUR MIND, simultaneously an ambitious expansion of the possibilities in the previous work and an attempt to produce something truly epic and unique. And the comparison to Morris is apt. Although YS contains only five songs, it clocks in at over 50 minutes, but in those 50 minutes there are no instrumental breaks. The only other performer I know who has recorded several songs that were as long as the ones on YS and featured singing through their entire length is Van Morrison. The songs on YS don't sound like "Listen to the Lion," but it might be the closest musical equivalent.
These songs are epic, theatrical, and expansive. And the word "unique" can't be applied too sparingly. The instrumentation alone sets it apart. Newsom's astonishing harp dominates every track, supplemented magnificently with Parks's wonderful strings, but the oddest instruments can sometimes intrude, like the banjo that pops up in "Only Skin" or the Jew's harp in "Cosmia." Some listeners, especially indie rock fans, are going to have a problem with the overall sound. No drums, no guitars, no bass, only occasional keyboards, but a lot of harp and strings. The result isn't something you can dance to. It isn't even something that you can hum to yourself. But the five songs here contain universes of marvelous, quirky, delightful musical ideas.
The lyrics are perfectly suited to the music and are frequently compelling, if not quite as overwhelming as the music. All of the songs are very strong compositions, which is an absolute necessity when an album features only five of them. The one thing that some people have trouble with Joanna Newsom is her voice. I can fully sympathize with this, because it took me a long time to accustom my ears to her singing. Like everything else, her voice is more than a tad different. Some people compare it to a harsher version of Bjork, but while her voice possesses some of the childishness that one sometimes hears in Bjork, some other comparison always seemed to be more apt. To me, she sounds very much like a precocious child attempting to mimic Billie Holliday. Listen to the way she mouths "darling" in "Monkey & Bear" and tell me that doesn't sound like a talented child imitating Lady Blue. It took me quite a while before I actually liked Newsom's voice. It isn't in any traditional sense a good singing voice, but once one accustoms oneself to it, it seems perfectly suited to her music.
This isn't an album for anyone. It is a ferociously sophisticated work. For want of a better term, it might be termed Alt-Folk. I was praising this to my daughter who is in college in another state. She asked what I would compare the album to. I said the closest might be Lorena McKennitt, but in fact she sounds as much like Lorena McKennitt as the latter does to Dead Can Dance, which basically means it is a worthless comparison. If you are an adventurous listener, love exploring something that is truly unique and different, I heartily recommend this album. For me it is one of the musical highlights of the year.
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66 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outlier in popular music, December 2, 2006
In the past couple of years, Joanna Newsom has been a well-kept secret. She was known by those who listen to Smog, Devendra Banhart, or the Pleased. You could catch the occasional review of The Milk-Eyed Mender on an alternative music magazine, or a video of her with Devendra, nothing more. Then, this album happened. Pitchfork gave it an outstanding 9.4 review. At the other end of the spectrum, Sasha Frere-Jones, of the New Yorker, wrote a glowing review. She is now a little-understood phenomenon, as the commonplace remarks about her music show, ie.: 1. that her voice [or music] is "an acquired taste"; 2. that she belong to the "Freak Folk" genre; 3. that she uses words like "inchoate" or "sassafras"; 3. that she sounds like Bjork. All of this proves that professional music critics are unimaginative losers, but does not illuminate Newsom's music. It's very hard to recommend an album like this, since it does not sound like anything I've heard. It's definitely not "baroque" like the Amazon official review states. And it's not certainly "freak folk", as Newsom herself repeats over and over. In fact, it's the opposite. While freak folk is repetitive and hypnotic, this music continuously changes melodies and rithmic signatures, and the lyrics require continued attention. Never in her records, concerts or interviews does Newsom sound like a stoned singer or a lovable primitive. She is in full control, like it or not. She openly complains about her voice being "untrained", but it is much richer, flexible and interesting than the often-quoted Bjork, who is inexplicably considered master of vocal technique. Newsom's is the rare case of a educated musician who has truly internalized disparate influences (among them, West African harp tradition, Debussy and Satie, Celtic music, Appalachian folk, Joni Mitchell and Vashti Bunyan, the precision of Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore, but also the sustained story-telling of Robert Frost, and all of the 20th century american confessional poetry), and made them into something completely new, occupying the uneasy space between high and low culture. She rescues ancient words on the verge of oblivion, to evoke images that are both feverish and distant. This song of cycles is the musical equivalent of controlled nuclear fusion. It's a rare event to hear about meteorites and pleaiades with a sense of marvel and no trace of irony, or that "last week our picture window produced a half-word heavy and hollow". Is John Donne one of her ancestors? Did H.W. stop by Nevada City, a few decades ago?
What propels this record is the unerring sense of melody, and its close connection to lyrics that are both rhapsodic and narrative. The rich orchestral arrangements help and make for a distinctive record, but I feel that the record would have been equally good had she been accompanied by her harp alone. Newsom will not age like those second-rate classical pianists and groups repackaging classical influences in their fast-aging pop hits (who can listen to Emerson Lake and Palmer any more, or Tori Amos???). Twenty years from now, this music will be as interesting, ambitious and anachronistic as it is today.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joanna Newsom- Tearing Apart Couples Since 2004!, March 13, 2007
I love this cd, and think it's one of the most beautiful, original works I've ever heard. The only problem is that my girlfriend hates it, and refuses to even sit in the same room if I'm playing it. How can this be?
Well first and foremost, it has to do with Newsom's voice. If you've never heard Joanna in action, I encourage you to stop reading this very minute and click on one of the songs above. Really. Do it. Because, chances are this will be the dealbreaker. The first time I heard a sample , I rated her voice in the bearable-to-slightly-intriguing range. Today, I'm rather fond of the way she warbles her poetic verses. But my girlfriend prefers nails on a chalkboard than to being within earshot, no matter how many times I try to subliminally influence her otherwise.
If you can get past Newsom's voice, the second hurdle requires making a mental commitment to listening to this cd at HOME. This is not the type of cd you can play at a party if you want to keep your friends. And the songs are much too long for the standard car ride unless you're anticipating traffic. So when you buy this disc, you need to mentally donate at least one hour of time to dressing up as Romeo or Juliet, laying down in a bean bag chair, and letting Newsom take you into another world. Well maybe you don't need to dress up, but it would really help with the ambiance.
If you can envision getting this far, I'd say this cd is a safe bet. The strings and instrumentation are outstanding, and you will no doubt come to admire the depth and breadth of each song. Each song starts off at a relatively slow pace before reaching a powerful crescendo that justifies the wait. Furthermore, there isn't a single dud on this album, which is rare for mosts discs these days(though it does only have 5 songs). However, if you can't get past the first two steps, I'd suggest you take my advice and stay clear of this one for your own sake and for the sake of your relationship (thanks Joanna).
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