The Unusual, Day 1: Joanna Newsom

I've taken a shine to five musicians recently, in last week's effort to seek out the Dr. Pepper of music, as I like to call it: The Unusual. I'd found myself in a rut of listening to the same-old same-old and my ears needed a jolt. So I ran out seeking some music to appeal to my wee ears. I searched out music I've never heard, and music I never gave a chance, and the five performers highlighted this week stuck out like sore thumbs to soothe my bored ears. Today, Joanna Newsome!

Megan and I listen to music in very different ways. When I say, "good god, listen to that little pulse of percussion," Megan says, "What the hell are you talking about?? Listen to those horns!" When I describe a song based on the instrumentation and textures, she has no idea what I'm talking about. When she talks about a song in terms of lyrics, I have no idea what she's talking about. In one instance, we both told each other about our favorite song off a particular album, not realizing we were both talking about the same song.

But the strongest of our differences. When I play Tom Waits, Antony and the Johnsons or anyone else who's voice falls of the scale of what one normally expects from someone with a record deal, Megan generally just doesn't want to hear it. Add to that list Joanna Newsom.

Joanna Newsom, living proof that a few more gelflings survived than we originally believed, has a squeaky voice that lies somewhere ten miles east of Nina Simone and Antony. Her first album, Milk-Eyed Mender rubbed me somewhat the wrong way. Her voice pierces and burns over the delicate steps of her harp fingering, and I wondered why such a good songwriter wouldn't pull in a softer, more palpable singer to take on these tunes. So my initial reaction to her first album was to ignore it.

Then this album hits and the critics go abso-freaking-lutely wild. A quick jaunt over to MetaCritic shows Newsom ranking well among online and magazine critics ('cept for Rolling Stone... but who cares about them?) So I decide to give the gal another chance, to discover, as I did with many another artist, that my first impressions were wrong.

Ys, recorded with string arrangments by Van Dyke Parks (he wrote most of the lyrics for some album of mild significance) completely kicks my ass. I've got the bruises to prove it!

Unlike her first album, Newsom's voice does not pierce and burn, but nestles easily between the Parks' string arrangements and Newsom's own harp. The lyrics are acute faery tales which present a simple story to begin with, but, I predict, are far more complicated than the coniving schemes of a wayward monkey as featured in "Monkey and Bear." (Like I said, lyrics really aren't as much my thing).

For an album this dense and abstract, it's a wonder I'd take a shine to it so quickly, but I've been in love with this music since the first pluck and bow of the strings of the opening track.

Joanna Newsom - Emily
Buy Ys at eMusic