Artist: Joanna Newsom
Album: Have One On Me
Year: 2010
Yeah, time to write about the harp chick. While I know I have a tendency to spew hyperbole, it is only with completely genuineness that I would call "Have One On Me" my favorite album(s) of all time, which is equally ridiculous due to the fact that I've only owned it for around four months. Regardless, I've played the hell out of it's 2+ hour length, each time stunned by some new lyrical stinger or connection I hadn't noticed the first time; the album has the depth of an ocean, a depth shared by Newsom's talent as a vocalist and harpist. Whereas her voice was sometimes unlistenable (in my opinion) on some of her previous work, she has changed her vocal stylings since her The Milk Eyed Mender era and this is her most accessible piece, which is a wonder to say considering it's a triple album with an average song length of seven minutes or so. I've been working on how to do this review and do justice to this unbelievably incomparable masterpiece, but I don't think it's possible without writing a book. Opener "Easy" is a masterpiece about a one-sided relationship, "Have One Of Me" is a sprawling epic about Lola Montez, "'81" is a clever and exceptionally pretty escapist ballad, "Good Intentions Paving Co." is a piano romp... Highlights just continue. "No Provenance", "Baby Birch", "Jackrabbits", "Go Long", "In Calfornia", "Does Not Suffice", "Soft As Chalk", "Esme" and the incredible "Kingfisher". There is not a moment of filler in these two-and-some hours, it is both achingly beautiful and mesmerizingly poignant. Highly, highly reccomended.
Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_47_CHdzHI
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