How many points do you give for ambition? I posit that there was no more ambitious record in the 00s than Joanna Newsom's
Ys, five superlong tracks of basically nothing but harp and strings, five medieval story-songs with gorgeous lyrics. And look at the
names who helped out on this album: Jim O'Rourke. Steve Albini. Van Dyke Parks. So far, so good, but there's one thing that stops people from appreciating Joanna Newsom and one thing only: her voice. It's
odd. She sounds like Lisa Simpson. But, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to praise it. I think her voice works perfectly with this kind of music; it's childlike, and that is essential. I feel like a more traditional voice would have killed this kind of music: the whole thing is so studiedly pretentious that it threatens to collapse in on itself any second and only Newsom's untrained voice stops it from doing so. And her voice makes these songs
beautiful: somebody had to to take up the "strings in popular music" mantle after Dickon Hinchcliffe left the Tindersticks, and this album boasts the greatest string arrangements of any pop record since the Tindersticks' second album ten years previous. These songs are lengthy and complex, although not in the way you might expect: their construction and instrumentation are fairly simple (usually there's nothing more than a harp and strings) but their complexity comes through in their lyricism and subtle grading and lurching of volume: "Emily" and "Only Skin", both of which are well over ten minutes, reach gorgeous string-laden climaxes so subtly you hardly realize it until they're washing over you, and "Monkey & Bear" manages the astonishing feat of being somewhat
catchy despite not having a coherent chorus or even sung vocals (most of them are spoken). What a crazy goddamned record, in short, and music is all the better for its existence.
MY RATING:
8.9
Joanna Newsom - "Monkey & Bear"
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