Waiting for Ys

Posted on 28th Nov 06 by Contributor | 0

Artist: Joanna Newsom
Author: Cian O Callaghan

Joanna Newsom " Ys "Drag City"

I had heard that Joanna Newsom had a new record coming out. I had been hearing good things. I had heard about strings and Van Dyke Parks. I had heard about glistening harp and vocals recorded by Steve Albini. I had heard about Jim O" Rourke thrown in somewhere. I was getting kinda excited.

I came across Newsom earlier this year" picking up her debut album The Milk Eyed Mender under some random circumstances that I don"t rightly recall. The "now 23 year old" harpist from outside San Francisco had been signed to Drag City after touring with Bonnie "Prince" Billy" Smog and Cat Power" releasing TMEM in 2004. Classically trained on the harp" Newsom picked the way through her Appalachian folk songs with a voice that sounded somewhat like a child" screeching out jarred off key phrases that either sucked you in or made you vomit.

Gradually establishing myself in the former camp over the last number of months" the prospect of a new release was becoming an idea that increasingly enamoured me. More of the same would have been satisfactory" but as reviews began to pop up" it was becoming clear that Ys was an entirely different beast to its predecessor. Based around a song cycle of lengthy songs "only five in total"" combining an abstract earthly poetry with lush string arrangements by Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks. The word was out that Ys was a cosmic leap in terms of Newsom"s ambition.

As the release date neared my finances dwindled and I had decided to give my spending on music a bit of a rest " that was until I heard "Cosmia". I was sitting reading a book and listening to the radio" when the plucking of a harp that was unmistakably Newsom came through the speakers. I put down the book and gave the song my full attention. She comes in with a voice that is lower in register" tripping over the harp like a pebble on water" as the strings strike like fighter jets swooping in and out of target. The sections change" filling out" pulling back. Newsom"s voice sounds alternately like Bjork" Kate Bush and Travelogue era Joni Mitchell. After seven minutes it leaves me again and I"m glued to the chair. I have nothing to say but "fuck". I"m going to have to get this record as soon as it comes out.

I"m in Manchester over the next couple of days and the subject of Ys comes up there too. On my return I buy a magazine for change for the bus home and there it is again. Setting my bags down in the kitchen I read the review. Well you could say that this one tipped me over the edge " I had to have this NOW. I checked the released date on the web" it was the following Tuesday. Today was Friday. A lot of records released on a Monday or Tuesday come into the shops here in Ireland on the Friday before hand. I grabbed my coat and I was off. The bus didn"t come. I walked. Reaching the city centre in no time " my passport still in my jeans pocket " I searched the record shops and I found my treasure. I clung to it on the bus ride home" waiting impatiently as traffic inched along rush hour. I would play it loud" I would boom it out and take it all in. Hitting the ground off the bus I practically ran to my house" jumped to my room" stuck the CD in the Hi"Fi and"

Ys is out now on Drag City Records.

www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom

Photo by: Pete Newsom