New Joanna Newsom
- Thread starter Kit Taylor
- Start date
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
Ripping to FLAC as I type.
What does that mean, is it pc nerdwords? have you heard any snippetts Kit? maybe she'll do some rootsy welshy weirdness. Hope so- Im looking fwd to this, though its bound to have more than one hippy on it, & it'll be hard to follow 'A Milk-eyed Member'.
What does that mean, is it pc nerdwords? have you heard any snippetts Kit? maybe she'll do some rootsy welshy weirdness. Hope so- Im looking fwd to this, though its bound to have more than one hippy on it, & it'll be hard to follow 'A Milk-eyed Member'.
Kit Taylor
Well-Known Member
Well. This is an unholy mess, but a lot of it's great. Some of it might actually be terrible but I think I love it. It's not like any other record I own, and totally different to TMEM.
The harp is relegated to rhythm guitar status, with the focus on the voice (with lyrics all the way through 16 minute songs - prog!) against a backdrop of strings. The romantic, American sounding strings are mellifluous and dramatic but rather shapeless, and the connection with the melody and balance with the voice is pretty tenuous. Tiny splashes of Jew's harp, banjo, electric guitar and helium and bass backing vocals pop up, buried in the mix.
The babyish singing is excellent, really intricate and dynamic with loads of texture, aswell as some tweeter shattering squeaks. As on TMEM, the lyrics seem to be nonsense, but again they're often very evocative and emotionally affecting. The one that has a clear subject is "Sawdust and Diamonds," a song narrated by puppets. It's heartmeltingly lovely and harp and voice only.
The production, by Steve Albini, is also warmer and rougher than on TMEM, and generally excellent. Hello tape hiss!
Sample lyric: "The sky was a bread roll, soaking in the mirror bowl."
PS I only really listen to the catchy tracks on TMEM, and am a little indifferent to the rest of it. Mind you, this one hasn't any hooks at all!
Yep. FLAC is the lossless format for my PC music server.
The harp is relegated to rhythm guitar status, with the focus on the voice (with lyrics all the way through 16 minute songs - prog!) against a backdrop of strings. The romantic, American sounding strings are mellifluous and dramatic but rather shapeless, and the connection with the melody and balance with the voice is pretty tenuous. Tiny splashes of Jew's harp, banjo, electric guitar and helium and bass backing vocals pop up, buried in the mix.
The babyish singing is excellent, really intricate and dynamic with loads of texture, aswell as some tweeter shattering squeaks. As on TMEM, the lyrics seem to be nonsense, but again they're often very evocative and emotionally affecting. The one that has a clear subject is "Sawdust and Diamonds," a song narrated by puppets. It's heartmeltingly lovely and harp and voice only.
The production, by Steve Albini, is also warmer and rougher than on TMEM, and generally excellent. Hello tape hiss!
Sample lyric: "The sky was a bread roll, soaking in the mirror bowl."
PS I only really listen to the catchy tracks on TMEM, and am a little indifferent to the rest of it. Mind you, this one hasn't any hooks at all!
The Captain said:
Yep. FLAC is the lossless format for my PC music server.
Kit Taylor
Well-Known Member
How is the album title pronounced? Is it "wise" or "yuss"?
sideshowbob
Champagne fascia aficionado
According to the Wire this month, it's pronounced "Ees"
-- Ian
-- Ian
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
Good write-up as it were Kit. I was going mmm maybe/maybe not until Steve Albini you mention.. now its firmly on the shopping list.
sideshowbob
Champagne fascia aficionado
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
Ian have you heard Ys/ any opinions on it- presuming you liked TMEM-?
After just hearing a sample.. I like it already.. it sounds like she's had singing lessons from Antony (& The Johnsons)- much more controlled and mature voice, lyrically sweet and daft; interesting music, it reminds me of Bjork's originality. The string arrangement do sound a bit offputting (not Steve Albini's forte I suspect) but Im sure will become less apparant with time.
After just hearing a sample.. I like it already.. it sounds like she's had singing lessons from Antony (& The Johnsons)- much more controlled and mature voice, lyrically sweet and daft; interesting music, it reminds me of Bjork's originality. The string arrangement do sound a bit offputting (not Steve Albini's forte I suspect) but Im sure will become less apparant with time.
Kit Taylor
Well-Known Member
From Newsom herself in the link below, where belying her hippy image, she can be seen wearing a dead animal as a hat inna Ted Nugent stylee.
http://www.billions.com/artists/joannanew/
Initially the vocals and harp were recorded together by Steve Albini, without orchestration.
Then over the course of 8 months the string arrangements were written by Van Dyke Parks, based on a pile of non-technical notes from Joanna, who's arranged strings on about a million albums including the Beach Boys' Smile. The strings were recorded by Tim Boyle, and the final mix was done by Jim O'Rourke.
http://www.billions.com/artists/joannanew/
Initially the vocals and harp were recorded together by Steve Albini, without orchestration.
Then over the course of 8 months the string arrangements were written by Van Dyke Parks, based on a pile of non-technical notes from Joanna, who's arranged strings on about a million albums including the Beach Boys' Smile. The strings were recorded by Tim Boyle, and the final mix was done by Jim O'Rourke.
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
Shes got a nice bodkin.. that dead dog thinks so too by all accounts!
I've listened to this a few times over the last few days.
I likes.
As said above, it's not really like anything else I own, though I'd heard MOst of the album (live) already.
On first listen to this, the opening track "Emily" left me thinking "ummmmm".
Trying to follow the orchestra made it sound very loose and even messy, sometimes going in a completely different direction to the vocals/harp. But listen again and take the whole tune in, or follow the vocal and allow the rest to be a backdrop, and it really is very involving.
Definitely works better with the lights out or eyes closed.
A great follow up IMO.
I likes.
As said above, it's not really like anything else I own, though I'd heard MOst of the album (live) already.
On first listen to this, the opening track "Emily" left me thinking "ummmmm".
Trying to follow the orchestra made it sound very loose and even messy, sometimes going in a completely different direction to the vocals/harp. But listen again and take the whole tune in, or follow the vocal and allow the rest to be a backdrop, and it really is very involving.
Definitely works better with the lights out or eyes closed.
A great follow up IMO.
Jonathan Ribee
Unavailable at present
I noticed Diverse have it on vinyl.
sideshowbob
Champagne fascia aficionado
I heard bits of the first album. Pretty enough, but I suspect the tweeness would piss me off quite quickly. And I loathe harp.
-- Ian
-- Ian
As with the first album, but MOre so, I find myself thinking of Kristin Hersh.