Joanna Newsom, a triple-threat of harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter, has just released “Have One on Me,” a three-disc album each containing six songs. At parts, especially the third disc, the album highlights Newsom’s recovery from voice nodules that prevented her from speaking, singing or crying for two months in spring 2009 and have forever had an effect on her vocals.
The folk singer begins her first disc of the album with “Easy,” a song about “my man/and me” that contains heavy jazz piano stylings similar to Alicia Keys. One might think that this album is going to be an ode to love.
In typical Newsom fashion though, she does things big and there is no pattern that can be pinned down.
The title track is harp-heavy, featuring classic folk guitar paired with shaky vocals that explore the give and take in a relationship. Eventually, the 11-minute tune becomes exhausted and moves into “’81.”
“’81” is a simple tweaking of the Garden of Eden biblical story and uses colloquialisms to its advantage. This makes it one of the strongest songs on the album lyrically, as well as one of the most approachable. The light harp and one-two guitar strums don’t come off as intimidating, which is sometimes the case for other songs.
“Good Intentions Paving Company” is probably the only song from Newsom that could be released as a single, with its pop-piano beat, consistent melody and casual pop drums. This is not to mention the optimism heard in her voice that is rare in other Newsom songs.
Newsom closes the first disc with “Baby Birch,” a nine-minute and 30-second song she models after a Johnny Cash ballad. It fails, considering that it is too slow and there is no real beat besides a casual, echoing guitar behind her vocals. That changes around the six-minute mark, by which point she has probably lost most of her listeners anyway.
The second disc starts off with “On a Good Day,” which clocks in at 1:49, a stark contrast to the first disc of longer songs. It is a slow-paced song that easily moves into “You and Me, Bess,” a song that is so similar that listeners think that “On a Good Day” is still playing.
The second disc is definitely the ballad disc and it includes two of the standout songs on the album, “In California” and “Go Long.”
“In California” features a pretty and calm string arrangement, as well as some of the best vocals on the album. It redeems her from some of her lower points earlier in the album. It is this song that warrants Newsom’s frequent comparison to Joni Mitchell.
A problem with the Mitchell comparison though, is that Mitchell was able to produce pop songs while Newsom seems strained on songs that even come close to pop territory.
The second ballad-heavy disc includes “Jackrabbits,” a track that is straight voice and harp, which makes it strong. It’s what Newsom does best. “Occident,” the ending track on the disc, is a basic piano ballad and isn’t as strong because of the earlier addition.
“Soft as Chalk” starts the third disc and tries to create a piano stomp beat, but it runs too slowly and too quietly. Newsom’s vocals sound like she wants to sing loudly but is afraid of waking her parents. The song sets the pace for the entire third disc, which, though not as ballad-heavy as disc two, is still slow enough to make the entire album slow and heavy.
“Esme,” another harp and voice ballad, is another highlight.
“Autumn” gives the impression early on that strings will eventually build the song up and give it more power, but when they finally do, it becomes too much, overwhelming the song.
The next song, “Ribbon Bows,” does the opposite by starting off too big.
The final track of the third disc, “Does Not Suffice,” emphasizes the voice change in Newsom. At times, she gets so nasally and whiny that she sounds like Adam Sandler in his early songs.
Though many of the songs on the album are around the seven-minute mark, it is not the length that makes one weary. Instead, it’s the fact that most of the music is so similar and repetitive. With no climax whatsoever, it becomes one long, drab album.
It seems that Newsom was trying to be concept-based by introducing three discs. However when most everyone downloads their music, this has no impact.
Overall, on “Have One On Me,” she tries to make a large album that intertwines many of her sounds and talents. Yet, somehow she and her ideas get lost, and they instead become flat and comparable.
Kellye Donnelly
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Joanna Newsom, a triple-threat of harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter, has just released “Have One on Me,” a three-disc album each containing six songs. At parts, especially the third disc, the album highlights Newsom’s recovery from voice nodules that prevented her from speaking, singing or crying for two months in spring 2009 and have forever had an effect on her vocals.
The folk singer begins her first disc of the album with “Easy,” a song about “my man/and me” that contains heavy jazz piano stylings similar to Alicia Keys. One might think that this album is going to be an ode to love.
In typical Newsom fashion though, she does things big and there is no pattern that can be pinned down.
The title track is harp-heavy, featuring classic folk guitar paired with shaky vocals that explore the give and take in a relationship. Eventually, the 11-minute tune becomes exhausted and moves into “’81.”
“’81” is a simple tweaking of the Garden of Eden biblical story and uses colloquialisms to its advantage. This makes it one of the strongest songs on the album lyrically, as well as one of the most approachable. The light harp and one-two guitar strums don’t come off as intimidating, which is sometimes the case for other songs.
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