Ys — Joanna Newsom
Drag City
2006
Rating:


Joanna Newsom's "Ys" is likely to be dismissed out-of-hand by many just from its description: containing only five songs but more than 55 minutes in length, "Ys" (pronounced "ees" and named for a mythological Breton city) is an epic of poetical lyrics and harp-driven melodies.

In most cases, such an album warrants knee-jerk eye-rolling and caustic mockery, so it says something that "Ys" is not only one of the best albums of the year, but ranks among the greatest folk records of all time.

"Ys" is so unlike anything else in the modern music landscape that it's initially jarring, but anyone with willing ears and an open mind can hear its brilliance by the end of the first song, the 12-minute "Emily." An ode to Newsom's sister of the same name, "Emily" is at turns somber and playful, expressing nostalgia ("Pa pointed out to me the way the ladle leads to a dirt-red bullet of light") and picturesque whimsy ("Peonies nod in the breeze / And as they wetly bow with hydrocephalitic listlessness / Ants mop up their brow"). Orchestration from Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks swells and intensifies but always allows Newsom's lyrics and harp to be the center of attention.

A fable for adults, "Monkey & Bear" recounts what happens when the titular animals escape from a farm. Using words like "cur," "diluvian" and "fain," Newsom tells how the monkey takes advantage of the bear Ursula, forcing her to dance to earn money for them until Ursula escapes in an act of magic realism. With only her voice and her harp, Newsom delivers her most poignant lines in "Sawdust & Diamonds": "And though our bones they may break and our souls separate — why the long face? / And though our bodies recoil from the grip of the soil — why the long face?"

It's equally easy for Newsom to dismiss worldly things on the ambitious 17-minute "Only Skin." "Scrape your knee; it's only skin / Makes the sound of violins," she sings. "Take my bones, I don't need none." After she witnesses a brown bird fly into a window, Newsom offers it the prayer, "though you die, bird, you will have a fine view." Metaphysical musings have never been so lovely. Grand in every sense, "Only Skin" is Newsom's greatest song.

Newsom isn't above simple lines of longing, though. On "Cosmia" she disarmingly sings, "if you've seen true light, then this is my prayer: / Will you call me when you get there? / And I miss your precious heart."

Just like Newsom's prayer for a bird, "Ys" is minutes of rare grace.

Posted Friday, December 1, 2006

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/music/joanna.newsom/ys