LOOK BENEATH HER FAIRY GUISE: The World of Joanna Newsom

Deep visionary, or cutesy fairy with a harp? Excellent crafter of fairy tales, or tortured version of Annie? Dorien Campbell reviews the much-lauded harpist and folk singer.

In December ‘06, I had the distinct privilege of seeing Joanna Newsom live at the Alladin Theater here in Portland. The evening had begun with opener Bill Callahan of Smog.  After about a song and a half of boring country ditties and a fret-buzzing guitar my head was filled with, well…smog, so I headed back to the bar. I returned in time to catch Newsom's set. With the exception of an unbridled enthusiast in the crowd who couldn’t keep from yelping in the middle of a song, the audience was reverently silent, and every intricate detail of her folk meets baroque orchestrations were presented with perfect balance and harmony. She was charismatic, yet as down to earth as if she were sitting in your living room. Most were in a daze after the performance.  I was too stunned to talk. It is rare that a performer of this caliber maintains an air of innocence, despite her world of many talents. 

Newsom is a harpist and folk singer with a captivating, enchanted demeanor. Her new record Ys (pronounced "Ees") is a masterpiece recorded by Steve Albini and shines brighter than most of the Drag City catalog.  Producer and composer Van Dyke Parks has taken the raw form of Newsom's songs and embellished them with intricate stringed orchestrations; not once does his high art production style overshadow her expression. Her sincerity is not lost but exalted. Just when you think you’ve figured out where the song is going, she surprises you. Like any well-crafted fairy tale, the stories are rooted in universal human emotions. The arrangements move frantically towards some tower of the fantastic, but then suddenly change course and fall into quieter moments of honesty. You realize then that she really means it when she says "And everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk and dour: butterflies and birds collide at hot, ungodly hours." The depth of this woman is stunning when you consider that so many critics have written her off as a cutesy fairy with a harp. The fairy guise is only the icing on the cake.    

Raised in Nevada City, Newsom began studying music at age four and playing harp at age nine. She studied under rigid classical training in college only to discover that the classical world did not resonate with her songwriter leanings. The result is an incredibly skilled harpist with the heart of a visionary and the voice of something unusual or unearthly, depending upon your point of view.  She is similar in some ways to Björk , who applied classical training to her pop interests and who once said, "Music is a tool, if a piece of music has no soul it's because no one put it there."   

Newsom's career began in 2002 after she moved to SF and recorded her first e.p., Walnut Wales, followed by the 2003 e.p. Yarn and Glue. Will Oldham took notice, and this led to her recording The Milk Eyed Mender  and releasing it on Drag City. This was one of those productions where all the producer had to do was capture the talent and present it in raw form. Critics latched on to her seemingly childlike presence, but a closer look revealed a womanly stature. She wrote, "Never get so attached to a poem you forget truth that lacks lyricism; never draw so close to the heat that you forget that you must eat." By this time, some better known eccentric folk heroes like Cat Power and Devendra Banhart had taken notice, and even Neil Young offered her an opening slot on his tour.

She feels like a kindred spirit to Faun Fables, yet more gentle and subdued. Her songs feel Appalachian and Senegalese, but not specifically either one.  The journey is allegorical, and understandably this doesn’t appeal to everyone, but for those whom it does they’re in for a treat. Whether or not deep metaphor is pretentious or brilliant seems to be a debate of much varied opinion.  If your listen closely, you find yourself lured ever deeper into a world where the forgotten subtleties of nature take on a whole new significance. Another point of difference between many listeners is her voice. It is one of those voices that you learn to love because of its originality. At times, she squeaks and warbles in such an intensely cute manner that you can't help but wonder if it's intentional or not. The most unflattering comment I've heard is that she sounds like a tortured version of Annie, a statement I disagree with but understand nonetheless.  Either way, the magic is there.  --Dorien Campbell   

For upcoming tour dates, see:

http://www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom.html

or

http://www.fromamouth.com/milkymoon/

Photo by Pete Newsom