Show #111: Visions of Joanna

March 19th, 2007

(Photo found here.)

I first heard of Joanna Newsom back in December when I read that she was onboard for the Madison Pop Festival. Her appearance (some photos can be found here) was apparently something of a coup and I got the impression that Newsom was Pitchfork’s flavor of the month. She garnered mostly positive reviews from locals and, seeing that she played the harp, I figured that there was something more than indie rock going on here. So I sought out samples of her latest album, Ys, which was well-hyped with orchestral arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, production by Steve Albini, and mixing by Jim O’Rourke.

I found that I enjoyed what I heard quite a bit. I wasn’t (and am not) overly familiar with harp playing styles and my experience listening to the instrument was confined to classical music and Going For the One by Yes which features Jon Anderson playing the instrument. Here’s what Wikipedia says about her playing style:

Although her harp playing is not completely divorced from conventional harp techniques, she considers her style distinct from that of classically-focused harpists. She has been strongly influenced by the polymetric style of playing used by West African kora players. Her harp teacher, Diana Stork, taught her the basic pattern of four beats against three, which creates an interlocking, shifting pattern that can be heard on Ys, particularly in the middle section of “Sawdust & Diamonds”.

Perhaps you are familiar with the polymetric style of playing used by West African kora players, but I’m not. I just know that I enjoyed her playing in the samples I heard. Newsom’s voice is something that takes some warming up to. The aforementioned Wikipedia article describes it as “unusual” with “shadings of folk and Appalachian pitch and phrasing”. To me, she has a very ethereal voice which I can best describe in progressive rocks terms as thus: imagine if Dagmar Krause were born in Kentucky. Krause’s singing style takes time to get into and so does Newsom’s.

(Newsom @ The Green Man Festival, August 2005. Photo found here.)

If you look at the photos here and Ys’s cover, you can see that she cultivates an image that goes back quite a ways. I’ve also seen photos of her wearing a tiara which give her this old-time maidenly look. But don’t be fooled into thinking that she’s just another Lorena McKennitt because that is not the case. Newsom doesn’t tread near New Age.

This week’s show was recorded at The Green Man Festival in Clyro, Wales on 21 August 2005. We have here an audience recording that I’d rate as being very good+. There’s better, to be sure, but there’s plenty worse. Note that there are some songs here from Ys which would not be released for another 15 months.

Setlist:

Yarn And Glue
Only Skin > Be A Woman
Bridges And Balloons
The Book Of Right-On
Sprout And The Bean
Sawdust And Diamonds
Swansea
Sadie
Emily

Download show

Joanna Newsom

This is some video of Newsom that is part interview/part performance.

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