Album review: Joanna Newsom, 'Have One on Me'
2.5 stars (out of 4)
Joanna Newsom emerged in 2004 as a bundle of idiosyncrasies – a chirpy-voiced pedal-harp virtuoso trilling fairy tales --- and she’s been amplifying them ever since. Her 2006 album, “Ys,” fleshed out the folk whimsy of her debut with grandiose orchestration and stretched the songs to progressive-rock length. On “Have One on Me” she spreads two hours of music across three CDs – a leisurely-paced triple album that couldn’t be more out of step with the instant-gratification MP3 era.
Whereas “Ys” had a daunting density both musically and lyrically, “Have One on Me” (Drag City) is more direct. Most of the songs are built on Newsom’s harp or piano, then judiciously augmented with everything from a Bulgarian tambura to a string section. There’s more breathing room in the songs, all of which pretty much unfold at the same unhurried pace, most surpassing six minutes in length. Newsom’s voice can still be a bit of an acquired taste, with its child-like squeaks, but it’s warmer and lovelier than ever. The lyrics too are more transparent, using an unraveling relationship as a frame for her more fanciful, creatures-of-the-woodland imagery.
Newsom’s unwillingness to play by anyone’s rules except her own makes her worthy of attention. But history tells us that most triple albums could’ve benefited from some pruning, and “Have One on Me” is no exception. As pretty and carefully detailed as many of these tracks are, their tempos are relatively static and the arrangements tend to drift. Over three discs, the lack of variation becomes problematic. Standout tracks such as the percolating “Good Intentions Paving Co.” and the yearning “Go Long” could’ve been the core of a terrific album. But they’re lost amid the meandering.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's Joanna Newsom Store
Joanna Newsom emerged in 2004 as a bundle of idiosyncrasies – a chirpy-voiced pedal-harp virtuoso trilling fairy tales --- and she’s been amplifying them ever since. Her 2006 album, “Ys,” fleshed out the folk whimsy of her debut with grandiose orchestration and stretched the songs to progressive-rock length. On “Have One on Me” she spreads two hours of music across three CDs – a leisurely-paced triple album that couldn’t be more out of step with the instant-gratification MP3 era.
Whereas “Ys” had a daunting density both musically and lyrically, “Have One on Me” (Drag City) is more direct. Most of the songs are built on Newsom’s harp or piano, then judiciously augmented with everything from a Bulgarian tambura to a string section. There’s more breathing room in the songs, all of which pretty much unfold at the same unhurried pace, most surpassing six minutes in length. Newsom’s voice can still be a bit of an acquired taste, with its child-like squeaks, but it’s warmer and lovelier than ever. The lyrics too are more transparent, using an unraveling relationship as a frame for her more fanciful, creatures-of-the-woodland imagery.
Newsom’s unwillingness to play by anyone’s rules except her own makes her worthy of attention. But history tells us that most triple albums could’ve benefited from some pruning, and “Have One on Me” is no exception. As pretty and carefully detailed as many of these tracks are, their tempos are relatively static and the arrangements tend to drift. Over three discs, the lack of variation becomes problematic. Standout tracks such as the percolating “Good Intentions Paving Co.” and the yearning “Go Long” could’ve been the core of a terrific album. But they’re lost amid the meandering.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's Joanna Newsom Store