It is clear from my list of most listened to from 2006 that I like listening to female artists almost exclusively (although I do have Midlake, The Beatles, Pet Shop Boys, The Smiths and Sparklehorse hovering in my top forty). I don’t know why I feel like I’m apologising for this when I have been listening to BBC 6 Music for several weeks now waiting for more than two female artists to be played in a row. It was only today that Stuart Maconie managed to do this (the sequence was broken by the news but still counts). To my dismay one of the artists was that “annoying woman” (thanks for the moniker, Adam) Joanna Newsom. I am utterly mystified by the acclaim and popularity of Joanna. Andy is majorly smitten (which really surprises me, Mr my-music-taste-is impeccable-and-remorselessly-non-mainstream loves this darling of the media) and I just don’t get it. I think I should like her: I’m a fan of Bjork and the Sugarcubes so I don’t have a problem with a strange voice, the orchestration is lush and string based which I am partial to, she’s a woman so that should really help but it’s all so precious, irritating, meandering, and long. It’s bizarre – who next? Victoria Williams and Mary Margaret O’Hara?
Now that I’m on one, just what is so great about The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens and Cat Power? Metacritic’s Best of 2006 shows how out of step I am. However, thanks to that listing of lists I’m off to buy Leaves From Off The Tree.
It’s too easy to take lyrics out of context and make them appear ridiculous (it can work with almost any song lyric). Joanna Newsom’s words on Ys are more involved than most song lyrics and therefore should not be shrugged off as “precious” or “meandering” – they have more depth than a traditional “you left me and I can’t live my life any more” song. Listening to songs with narrative depth is not something I’ve done too much of over the years but Joanna Newsom (and The Decemberists) give rewards to listening to music in a different way than I have been used to. Poetry has often been sneered at for being “precious” I’m sure I’ve done it myself. The arrangements are stunning, her voice is unique and beautiful and this WILL be an album that will last for years.
The fact that I am “smitten” with an album that has been so highly regarded is peculiar but I think that just ocasionally an album that stretches the boundaries of modern music (after all it’s not a “pop” or an “indie” album by any stretch of the imagination (see also The Hounds of Love)) comes along and becomes a touchstone for people from different backgrounds, Ys is an album like that. It is one of the best albums I have ever heard and don’t expect to hear a better one anytime soon.
What I do find difficult though is how I can fit it into a list of my favourite albums because it can’t sit alongside “On Fire” or “The Velvet Underground” because it is so different…
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The Decemberists make forgettable music, IMO – but I freely admit I have not given them time to make an impression lyric-wise. I’ve really only heard 2 songs of theirs. Joanna Newsom hasn’t hit on this continent yet, as far as I know.
Hazel, it could be worse – my husband listens to Styx and The Doors.
LOL, I can almost literally hear your pain Maureen. I’m not surprised that Joanna Newsom is not a hit in her native country – the shortest song on her latest album is 7m17s while the longest is 16m53s…
Wow, yeah, that wouldn’t work over here. That would interfere with the commercials scheduled on the radio!
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