History Music / JoannaNewsom

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to The Incredible String Band and [[Literature/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own {{Cloudcuckoolander}} philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste; in many cases citing difficulties in getting used to her distinct vocal style (which has, mainly in respect of her earlier recordings, led to a fair number of unfavourable comparisons).

** "The big myth about Joanna Newsom is that she is fragile. An extraordinary idea when you think how radical, how ballsy, her choices have been. Her albums conform to no prescribed ideas about how many songs they should contain (the last one had five, this one has 18, songs vary hugely in length — and let’s not forget they’re written on a harp). [[CrazyAwesome Does anybody else put superglue on their fingers to make sure the callouses don’t grow soft?]] Schlep around the world to lead a different symphonic orchestra in playing her songs every night with barely any rehearsal time, everywhere from the London Barbican to the Sydney Opera House? Playing a huge 7-pedalled harp is tough stuff. And who else, aged 18, would go alone to a wild place down by the river, arrange some stones into a circle, and then sit inside that circle and stay there for three days, fasting. (Her friends camped a few miles away and left her small amounts of rice and water while she slept.) It’s a determination like none I’ve ever encountered. "

Apropos of nothing, she is a distant relative of Gavin Newsom (Mayor of San Francisco 2004-2011 and Lieutenant Governor of California 2011-present) and (as of 2014) is engaged to [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Andy]] [[Music/TheLonelyIsland Samberg]].

By the snap my steel string sounded just before your snores unwound it\\

* NatureSpirit: Colleen is, by all indication, an amnesiac water nymph who got mistaken for a human by some sailors. She doesn't cope well.

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to The Incredible String Band and [[Main/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own {{Cloudcuckoolander}} philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste; in many cases citing difficulties in getting used to her distinct vocal style (which has, mainly in respect of her earlier recordings, led to a fair number of unfavourable comparisons).

* EverythingsWorseWithBears: Subverted in "Monkey and Bear", where the bear is the more agreeable character...

** Her penchant for polyrhythms in her earlier recordings ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP_aRlINLdQ Peach, Plum, Pear]] is definitely a prime example) can be considered a variant of this trope.

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to The Incredible String Band and [[Main/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own {{Cloudcuckoolander}} philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

** "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie", "Peach, Plum, Pear", "Baby Birch", "Walnut Whales".

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: One line from "Emily" mentions "hydrocephalitic listlessness"

** Lots of her songs, really, but "Only Skin" (at 16:53) is certainly the longest. Other examples include "Emily" (12:08), "Monkey & Bear" (9:28), "Sawdust & Diamonds" (9:55), the ''Ys Street Band'' version of "Cosmia" (13:23), "Have One on Me" (11:01), "Baby Birch" (9:30), "In California" (8:41), "Go Long" (8:02), "Esme" (7:56), "Autumn" (8:01), and "Kingfisher" (9:11). So basically, about half the songs on her recent albums.

** Lots of her songs, really, but "Only Skin" (at 16:53) is certainly the longest. Other examples include "Emily" (12:08), "Monkey & Bear" (9:28), "Sawdust & Diamonds" (9:55), the ''Ys Street Band'' version of "Cosmia" (13:23), "Have One on Me" (11:01), "Baby Birch" (9:30), "In California" (8:41), "Go Long" (8:02), "Esme" (7:56), "Autumn" (8:01), and "Kingfisher" (9:11). So basically, about half the songs on her recent examples.

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to The Incredible String Band and [[Main/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own Cloudcuckoolander philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to The Incredible String Band and [[Main/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own CloudCuckoolander philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

Her most recent album, ''Have One On Me'', is decidedly more mainstream than her previous work. While still retaining much of her unique style, it's also somewhat reminiscent of JoniMitchell, Music/ToriAmos or FairportConvention, and marked Newsom's breakthrough as a world famous singer.

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to TheIncredibleStringBand and [[Main/GoblinMarket Christina Rossetti]], adding her own CloudCuckoolander philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

For tropers looking to get used to her sound, great songs to start with include "Sprout and the Bean," "Good Intentions Paving Company", "In California", "Emily", "Colleen" and "Peach, Plum, Pear".

* FridgeBrilliance: Once you figure out that "Colleen" is about [[spoiler: a young mermaid or sea-nymph who doesn't remember who she is]], ''every'' word in the song makes sense.
** Why would Monkey even care what the villagers would say about Bear if they saw her bathing? Because in treating Bear like his slave, Monkey is slowly becoming like a human himself.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: "Emily" is a touching affirmation of sisterly love, and "Esme" is a song written for a newborn baby.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: "Emily" is a touching affirmation of sisterly love.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Apparently the astronomical definitions in "Emily" are wrong.
** Given that the line which precedes them is "''I promised you I‘d set them to verse so I'd always remember''", the error was probably intentional.
*** Especially given the structure of the meteoroid verse and its repetition later - the first is serene and comforting, the second ends the song and is frantic and higher-pitched as the narrator understands its falsity and desperately attempts to recollect.
*** The Aesop being that it doesn't matter how much you care for someone, you will forget the once important details of your relationship given enough time.

* EpicSong: "Only Skin"

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to TheIncredibleStringBand and [[Christina Rossetti Main/GoblinMarket]], adding her own CloudCuckoolander philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

Newsom's songs are ''highly'' intricate fairy tales, with difficult melodies and very poetic lyrics, but they're always less abstract and more coherent than they seem to be at first. Newsom is most easily compared to TheIncredibleStringBand, adding her own CloudCuckoolander philosophy to her stories and telling them with compelling melodies. Many of her poems star complicated characters and feature separate fantasy worlds. Some are BeastFable tales, others just describe nature, and some are classic folk. Most critics call her an acquired taste (or, more commonly, compare her voice to screeching tyres).

* BabyGotBack: She does. And [[http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/31370797/Joanna+Newsom+Joanna.jpg it's]] [[http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music2/newsomstyle1.jpg awesome]]

Her most recent album, ''Have One On Me'', is decidedly more mainstream than her previous work. While still retaining much of her unique style, it's also somewhat reminiscent of JoniMitchell, ToriAmos or FairportConvention, and marked Newsom's breakthrough as a world famous singer.

* BabyGotBack: She does.

*** [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop The Aesop]] [[FridgeBrilliance being that it doesn't matter how much you care for someone, you will forget the once important details of your relationship given enough time.]]

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Ys'' to ''The Milk-Eyed Mender''
** [[BeyondTheImpossible Even better threequel of ''Have One On Me'' to ''Ys''.]] {{YMMV}} in all cases though.

* LoveItOrHateIt - Joanna's voice has been described as sounding like a "piercing flutter", "car alarm", "dying cat/dolphin", "half six-year-old girl, half Appalachian old-timer", "sprite-like", "Weapon of Mass Destruction", "[[TheSimpsons Lisa Simpson]]", "Madrigal Dinner Choir" "psychotic gypsy", "ethereal goddess", & "prepubescent teen whining about the mall". She's the most divisive female singer since [[{{Bjork}} Björk]]. If you want a fairly agreeable comparison, take [[FleetwoodMac Stevie Nicks]], turn UpToEleven.
** Her voice sounds [[YourMileageMayVary much more listenable]] on her latest album, ''Have One on Me'', probably due to a surgery she had to remove vocal chord nodules.

* {{Squick}}: From "Only Skin", we have the lines "Scrape your knee, it is only skin/Makes the sound of violins"

* AnAesop: "Monkey & Bear" seems to have the structure of one, animals and everything. The moral is left somewhat ambiguous, though