Joanna Newsom’s always been a storyteller. On 2004′s The Milk-Eyed Mender the tales were richly and eccentrically meandering, even if the songs have retrospectively proven to be the most concise and straightforward in a catalog that includes 2006′s Van Dyke Parks orchestral Ys and now her most ambitious collection Have One On Me. Ambitious because her growth as a vocalist and songwriter is tangible. There was a time when most reviewers focused on Newsom’s voice, somehow forgetting all those beautiful words: ”Your skin is something that I stir into my tea,” “There are some mornings/ When the sky looks like a road,” “Never get so attached to a poem, you forget truth that lacks lyricism,” etc. With Have One On Me it’s okay if you get attached to the poetry of both the lyrics and the structures wrapping around them: Across these 18 songs, Newsom weaves and wanders gorgeously. As on Ys she sets big scenes, but she also digs into intimacies that feel rawer and more real than anything she’s done previously.
Before you even get going on the songs and their tales, the production (Newsom produced; Jim O’Rourke mixed six songs, Noah Gorgeson the others) shows up and stands out: It’s lush but straightforward, crystalline but mysterious. Accents are tasteful. A momentary cacophony adds the emphasis it was sent there to achieve. That, and Newsom has more control and depth to that divisive voice. If you weren’t a fan of how she used it in the past, you’ll find some softer moments here, but longtime fans shouldn’t worry about any sort of transformation into straightforward coffee-shop folkiness: Newsom remains fearless.
When we heard the Edenic folks of “81,” the pastoral and jazzy “Good Intentions Paving Company” outing, and the gorgeous 9-minute madrigal/short story “Kingfisher,” it seemed like we were getting a good idea of Have One On Me‘s arc, but you really do need the thing in its entirety. The 11-minute title track conjures 19th Century Irish-born dancer/actress/courtesan Lola Montez and her “famous spider dance.” “Baby Birch” is a heartbreaking look at the eponymous lost child: “I wish we could take every path. / I could spend a hundred years adoring you. / Yes, I wish we could take every path, / because you know I hated to close the door on you.” The way it builds lyrically (characters, real and fantastical and stock enter the picture) and musically (the feedback, handclaps, percussion, the final Asian-style musical coda) is contained but dramatic and playful. The almost 10-minute song’s followed by the brief, less than two-minute “On A Good Day,” which seems to extend the same theme via a concise vignette: “I saw life and I called it mine / I saw it drawn so sweet and fine / And I had begun to fill in all the lines / Right down to what we’d name her.” Another standout “In California” looks at a different kind of loss (leaving home and a loved one), but also a sense of recovery and discovery. “Jackrabbits” finds a character, tired of being drunk “my face cracked like a joke,” swimming and stumbling away from and then back into love: “It can change in shape or form, but never change inside.” The spare, piano-lined closer “Does Not Suffice” also finds her moving on, packing up her “pretty dresses, “sparkling shoes,” cashmere, tweed, and “everything that could remind you of how easy I was not.” After she goes, though, she can’t stop imagining what his life is like without her: “The tangled hangers swaying in the closet / Unburdened hooks and empty drawers / And everywhere I tried to love you is yours again and only yours.” (The level of detail is reminiscent of Smog’s “New Friend.”) The track ends with her bouncy and then more haunting “la la la”s and then an ominous build of strings, feedback, and a patch of synth drone, drum menace. So, yeah, you want to go back to the opener “Easy” and figure out the circle that brought on the closing storm.
When people say you need time with an album, they usually mean because it’s a “grower,” but we need more time with Have One On Me because it’s too rich to breeze through. And it’s a pleasure to unpack it. There’s so much heartache and beautiful, smart imagery — so consider the Evaluation gladly on-going. When not mentioning the Clash’s Sandinista, reviewers will undoubtedly compare Have One On Me to books: The Washington Post has already offered Ulysses, though this feels more like the mirrors and secret love letters of Vladimir Nabokov’s Ada drenched in the sweat of William Faulkner … not Joyce’s Dublin. You’ll also undoubtedly hear Joni Mitchell, too. With an album like this, though, it makes more sense to start comparing Newsom to herself: Give a close listening to “Easy” through “Does Not Suffice” and then plop on another album immediately after … it’s hard for non-Newsom to sound flimsy beside this monolith. Sure, long records are nothing new, but long records that maintain a rigorous level of detail and quality from start to finish are much rarer. To go back to the book thing: William H. Gass has said you can tell the strength of a book if you open it to page 99 and the writing is just as solid as it was in the first pages. Do that here … test passed.
If you haven’t heard it yet, you can stream Have One On Me at NPR. Then go out and buy it: This is a record you’ll want to own in physical form.
Have One On Me is out today via Drag City.
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Shouldn’t this be called “Evaluation”? ZING.
This album is absolutely stunning. We haven’t even talked about “Go Long” or “Occident”, the best back-to-back on the record. So many sweet accents on the melodies.
The percussion throughout the record is perfectly restrained, and really knocks me on my ass whenever it kicks in. One possible complaint, she uses a lot of vibrato.
Alright, going out to pick this shit up on vinyl.
True: Drag City doesn’t leak. Good for them, they know what they’re doing!
I love Jackrabbits the most. I think there are some songs that meander too much and hover over the same chord progression and drag. This is impressive in size, but not entirely in execution. I’m surprised how many people are quick to call this brilliant. It has moments of brilliance, but much of it seems wholly unnecessary. That said, the highs are wonderfully high. And the lows, (for instance the plodding title track) are rather dull.
Also, I wonder which track will be used for Victoria’s secret like last time.
Plodding title track? A few songs probably wouldn’t hurt if they were trimmed a little bit, but Have One On Me certainly isn’t one of them.
this is a large work without alot of differentiation…..nothing immediately jumps out in the way the songs on Ys did, I think the hipster world just collectively shit their pants, b/c this is perfect nerd trophy for their nerd mantlepieces…
some great songs….definitely some filler….lots of talent….but could have definitely been paired down more.
mega agree. well put .
No offense jbean, you’re right that this album is far from perfect. And you’re right that there are some hipster nerds who love to tout anything non-mainstream. But this album is, in part, Newsom going a bit more mainstream. Not as much of the high-pitched voice. Often a bit Carol King/Joni Mitchell-esque. This comment just sorta reminds me of that scene in the movie Amadeus — where the king is asked to respond to the concert he just heard and he replies, “Too many notes.” In other words, he’s clueless. Your comment doesn’t have anything to do with the music — rather the ‘fans’ that listen to it.
I agree, but I think that you’re being too generous. There are barely enough good songs for a short EP to be found on this new album.
Well, why call it premature when the album is officially out? Baby Birch is definitely my favorite on the album. Beautiful throughout, and brilliant in the end (drums!).
this album is astounding.
Did Steve Albini and/or Jim O’Rourke have anything to do with this album?
O’Rourke mixed six of the tracks.
Yes. As far as the Albini mention? Ys on the mind…
I don’t understand why anyone would want this album to be pared down, at least in terms of number of tracks. As a fan, I’m glad to hear everything, even if some of the songs are less immediate than others. I don’t think it cheapens the record if I end up only loving half of it. That still means it’s a badass, amazing record.
And as whoever wrote this PE (Scott? Brandon?) said, the Evaluation of this record has to be on-going. It’s way too much to take in at this point. How could you put a number (like, say a 9.2) on it already?
Yes, please take your time with this one (and every album for that matter.) Instant gratification is overrated. I’m looking forward to spending a few hours with this one and my headphones.
I enjoy the album the way it is. I too feel that nothing really jumps out and that all 18 songs sound pretty same-y. I don’t have a favourite track (yet), but I have enjoyed the first album the most.
I can only take this album in small doses. BTW Johnny Cash gets not love?
indeed, he gets not love.
I don’t think I’ve been able to listen to it all at once yet; I tend to go disc by disc rather than trying to swallow the whole thing at once. i’ve got a life to live here! ….who am i kidding.
I’m in love with this right now. Every time I ask Joanna not to stop a certain note, she listens, and every time I ask a distinct chord to repeat, it does just that. It’s as if it allows its brilliance to continue to topple on top of itself, and it’s beautiful, and I love it, and it’s just what I needed.
oh sheesh
Joanna Newsoms going be playing a couple shows with Robin Pecknold from the fleet floxes, so pretty excited to see how that turns out. Wonder how they’re voices would sound together, worth a collaboration maybe?
I’m listening to her new album right now, sounding really great so far and i’m only half way through it.
an incredible accomplishment.
i’m looking forward to listening to it today, but i remember that i wasn’t able to truly appreciate YS til i had the lyrics in front of me and i could read along while listening. anybody know where and when i can find the lyrics to Have One On Me?
http://www.sodiumfire.com/files/Have_On … lyrics.zip
whoops.
http://www.sodiumfire.com/files/Have_One_On_Me-lyrics.zip
I’m getting a mad Sufjan vibe listening to this. Could just be that I’m listening the trumpets on “You, Me & Bess”
ok…so after 3 days of repeated listens here’s the real deal aside from : have one on me, you and me bess, soft as chalk, and kingfisher….this is an out and out masterpiece. JackRabbits, Esme, Baby Birch, In California, Does Not Suffice being the best work she has done to date. Absolutely chilling.
The song “Have One On Me” is about Lola Montez. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Montez
The evaluator came up a little too premature. (Yeah I’m aspersing he sexually inadequate.)
OH my god I posted this on the wrong blog. I’m sorry!!!!!!!
Im a long time fan and avoided getitng this for a while because I knew it would require time, and be a grower in that Id have to make myself listen to it a few times without really wanting to. But Ive never liked anything any more instantly. When beauty strikes you it strikes you good. Joanna Newsom’s best yet, and given how good it is, possibly her peak (ever). The year’s lists are done for me.