“‘81” - Joanna Newsom (from Have One On Me)

I liken Joanna Newsom to anchovies: for some people they are the best part of the Caesar salad, but for other people they render the entire thing inedible. I like anchovies. I also really, really like Joanna Newsom.
I guess it’s not really surprising that Newsom’s back catalog has left listeners pretty firmly divided. Y’s in particular had plenty of moments for haters to roll their eyes over, what with the harp, her penchant for arcane language, and Newsom’s often screechy and squeaky voice carrying listeners through epic, 17+ minute long songs. But I loved Ys, unabashedly and unapologetically, so I suppose it’s not much of surprise that I also love Newsom’s newest release - the massive, sometimes unwieldy triple album, Have One On Me. However, Newsom’s newest release is enough of a departure from her previous work that I bet she can win over some folks who had previously considered her annoying and ridiculous.
On Have One On Me Newsom’s voice is more controlled, her songs are more streamlined, her harp is more of an accessory than a musical focus, and the result is an album that will please traditional Newsom fans while making her more palatable for a wider audience. The musical likeness that keeps popping up in reviews is Joni Mitchell, so if you’re looking for a point of comparison then that’s a pretty apt one.
Have One On Me has been met with fairly unanimous critical acclaim, and I believe all the praise is absolutely deserved. The album is massive, a bit all over the place, and fairly pretentious, but it’s also brave, lavish, and uniquely beautiful. I had a hard time picking a song for this post - “Soft as Chalk”, “Good Intentions Paving Company”, “Esme” and “On a Good Day” are also personal favorites, but I settled on “‘81” because the audio file was too large for all those other songs and Tumblr wouldn’t let me post any of them. (Ain’t technology grand?)
But as a bonus, I’m also posting Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold covering “On a Good Day” because it’s absurdly lovely. A duet please?
















