Track Listing

1. Emily
2. Monkey And Bear
3. Sawdust And Diamonds
4. Only Skin
5. Cosmia

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2102 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
If the debut album from Joanna Newsom, 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, suggested there was no-one in music quite like this elfin San Franciscan harpist, its follow-up Ys sees that gulf of difference become a universe of possibilities. Recorded by veteran engineer Steve Albini, with strings from Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks and vocal contributions from Newsom's current beau, Bill Callahan of alternative country miserabilists Smog, Ys is an altogether bigger, broader, more fantastical and more ambitious offering than its predecessor.

Only five tracks long, songs unfurl into grandiose narratives embossed with trumpet, violins, oboe, and French horn. But what's truly impressive is Newsom's extraordinary sense of command. On "Emily", cutesy observations of birds taking flight ("the meadowlark and the chim-cho-ree") blossom out into tales of falling meteorites, muddy-mouthed baboons and nautical adventures. Meanwhile, on the extraordinary "Only Skin" (which approaches 20 minutes in length) Newsom's voice and plucked harp flourish in strange, complimentary patterns, her voice at times born up on dramatic trumpets and cooing oboes, or for one passage, shadowed by Callahan's cobwebbed croak. It is testing in length, difficult to dip into, and not for those allergic to flights of fancy -- but Ys is a magnificent achievement, one you suspect no one else on this planet could mimic, let alone challenge. -- Louis Pattison

CD Description
It shouldn't be a surprise that an artist as stridently unconventional as Joanna Newsom would make a second album that overturns all the expectations established by her first. While Newsom's harp, highly poetic lyrics, and distinctive, child-like voice will be familiar to fans of THE MILK-EYED MENDER, YS takes Newsom's art in new, startling directions. The quaint, self-contained folk portraits of the debut are obliterated here in favour of sprawling epics that recall sea shanties, Homeric myths, and progressive rock. Newsom's words are still highly literate and evocative, though they seem more narrative and symbolic than the surreal expressions of MENDER. The album is graced by string arrangements from Van Dyke Parks which create a swelling, dramatic counterpoint to Newsom's performances. Production assistance from indie-rock titans Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke helps make this stellar effort one of 2006's most provocative releases.

From the Artist
Joanna Newsom explains it like this:

All the songs are intended to be playable with or without accompaniment, and I've already played them solo in a live context quite a bit.

Vocals and harp parts were recorded first, with Steve Albini. The main reason for starting this way was that Van Dyke wanted to base his arrangements on a final version of the songs, not "scratch" versions, given the fact that I tend to improvise and vary each performance slightly. Van Dyke felt that every nuance of the performance would inform his arrangements. A happy by-product of this necessary order of events was that the vocals and harp were recorded in a climate of quietness, ease, and spontaneity, allowing for the retention of a sense of intimacy and immediacy. The goal I had in mind was for the harp and vocals to feel like they were developing unawares of the presence of the orchestra, unburdened by any of the self-consciousness/formality/austerity/stiltedness this might provoke... as if the orchestra is hanging in a hallucinatory shimmer around the more substantial harp and voice. Van Dyke was then given the vocal and harp tracks, along with a pile of notes from me (mostly non-technical, i.e. describing moods, colours, images, scenes and concepts I wanted to project or produce in each song, line-by-line, bar-by-bar). In the months that followed, he'd send me various drafts of the arrangements, and I'd send him back notes about what worked for me and what didn't. Everything he sent, from day one, was amazing and lovely; the struggle, in editing and refining the drafts, mostly centred on trying to come up with arrangements that reflected Van Dyke's singular compositional voice and ideas, but still resonated completely with me and felt seamlessly bound to my own music. This took many drafts!

Eventually I went to LA to work directly with him in his studio, combing though the arrangements bar-by-bar, till both of us felt happy with the result, and both felt a sense of ownership and closeness to it.

All the arrangement work took approximately eight months.

The orchestral recording sessions took place in the spring of 2006, over three days, with an additional day at the end for vocal harmonies, percussion and Van Dyke's accordion. Van Dyke conducted the orchestra. He is a great conductor.

Mixing was done in NYC by Jim O'Rourke. I'm a huge admirer of all his work and I couldn't think of anybody else who matches his combination of symphonic/ classical literacy (in both arrangement and engineering terms) with experimentalism and analogue-fluency. He made the record sound the way I wanted it to sound. He edited quite a bit, and tweaked and carved it, allowing the songs to be at the centre of the record, above and beyond all the instrumental influences.

Just about every track on the whole album is in constant flux, and Jim was able to achieve the hallucinatory orchestral wash-effect I wanted, with parts rising up and dropping in and out almost weightlessly, disappearing without much notice and reappearing as if they'd been there the whole time.

...and that's just about how it happened!

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Customer Reviews

Spellbinding......
This is a fantastic album, a song-cycle comprimised of only 5 songs, but running in at about an hour.

I'm reluctant to even try to describe this album. I think the best example to use is what generally happens after you've listened to it - little melodies, a line perhaps, tend to stick in the mind and won't be uprooted until you've found a quiet place to stick the record on.

I say a quiet place, because the obvious flaw of the album (is it really a flaw though, or is it a sad indictment about music today?), is that it demands your full attention. There are narratives hidden within the songs that overlap with others. There are garnishes of wonderful orchestral backing, but on 'Sawdusts and Diamonds' Newsom's Harp is the only other instrument, save her curious and captivating voice. 'Only Skin' is the album's longest track, a wistful blend of key changes and bizarre instrumentation. Newsom's lyrics are often fragmentary and loose, but suit her style well. Part of the fun seems to be that meanings are difficult to come by, but you will always leave this album feeling more fufilled and just a little bit wiser than you did the last time you listened to it.

Utterly original - a classic beyond doubt
There are some times that I think that I and many other reviewers are too free and easy in giving 5 stars to albums. The problem is that when something comes along that is absolutely outstanding then it is difficult to differentiate it from that which is merely VERY good. Joanna Newsom's 'Ys' (pronounced 'ees' apparently) is one of those works that comes along as rarely as a blue moon and is not merely excellent but is 'out of this world', an instant classic.

It's all too easy to bandy words like 'classic' around but do I mean it? The answer is most definitely YES! This is a work that you would call genre-defining - if only it didn't completely defy genre. 'Ys' stands up there with other classic albums (White Album, Pet Sounds, Dark Side of the Moon) as being so original that nothing even remotely approaching it has been released before. This is heady company to keep, but I truly believe that this album belongs in such company. Believe me, this is an album that transcends anything else that you will hear all this year.

Saying all that, will it be successful? It is so original and beyond anything that you will hear anywhere else that it's hard to imagine that it'll get much airtime. The whole album consists of only 5 tracks, the shortest of which is over 7 minutes long and the longest of which is nearly 17 minutes. There is no guitar, there are no drums. Already you can tell that this isn't any ordinary album. The songs are all centred on Joanna Newsom's beautiful voice, harp and background orchestral arrangement.

First, the voice. Joanna Newsom has a distinctive voice, though there are obvious comparisons to Bjork (occasionally you hear Billie Holliday and Kate Bush coming through). She manages to sound child-like and ageless in one. Second, the harp playing. This is exquisite. Newsom's vocals and her harp playing perfectly match each other but at the same time seem sometimes to be doing battle with each other to see which leads. Third, the orchestral arrangement. Produced by Van Dyke Parks, the orchestral arrangements are always only in the background and so never overpower the singing and the harp. This is excellent in itself and the whole work has a very full sound.

Then there are the songs themselves. Lyrically there can be few albums that have ever bettered this. Each song is a story within itself. But the stories are written as poetry. The words are pure magic. Utterly evocative.

I played this three times yesterday and again this morning on the way to work. Incredibly my usual Monday morning angry mood completely dissipated whilst listening to this. I absolutely love it.

Saying all that - is it for everybody. I guess this might just pass over some completely. If you want immediacy then you might not like this. This is something to completely lose yourself in. Something that might take you time. However, this for me is as perfect as it gets. Listening to this is like emerging from early morning mist into a lucid blue sky. Fantastic music.

An extraordinary work of art
The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom's outstanding debut album - suggested a gulf between her and almost any other artist working today. The follow-up, Ys, widens that gulf to an ocean.

Spectacular on its own merits, little in The Milk-Eyed Mender suggested what would follow. The cover - a Holbein-esque depiction of Joanna Newsom as a Druid priestess - is backed by a distinctly medieval flavour to the lyrics. Newsom's voice, the major stumbling block for many listeners on her debut album, has traded in its somewhat child-like leanings for an entirely ageless tone.

While her voice and harp remain in the foreground, Ys frames them with a thirty-strong orchestra featuring strings, French horns, trumpets and oboe, courtesy of famed Brian Wilson collaborator, Van Dyke Parks. The way Newsom takes command of such grandiose arrangements, embossing her unusual African-influenced, staccato harp-playing with her distinctive and exceptional voice, is perhaps her most spectacular achievement.

Also highlighted are Newsom's peerless abilities as a story-teller. The pacing, mystery, drama and wonder of opener Emily (a dedication to her sister, who provides vocal harmonies) are only matched by the ingenuous breathlessness of Monkey & Bear. While the tales are undoubtedly peculiar - they are, at first, seemingly impenetrable - Newsom's cadence ensures repeated listens afford fresh discoveries.

Only for one solitary passage of the extraordinary, 17-minute long, Only Skin does Newsom take to the shadows and allow the misty murmur of boyfriend Bill Callahan to take centre stage. Newsom's voice soon returns, lifted upon theatrical trumpets and dramatic oboes.

Callahan and Van Dyke Parks aren't the only two famous names that helped Newsom piece this vast musical tapestry together; the album was mixed by Jim O'Rourke and recorded by Steve Albini.

Unpredictable, magical, challenging and beautiful, Ys is a startlingly original and utterly magnificent achievement. With unparalleled vision and courage, Newsom has produced an extraordinary work of art.