Joanna Newsom
Ys
Drag City 2006

01. Emily
02. Monkey & Bear
03. Sawdust & Diamonds
04. Only Skin
05. Cosmia

Those familiar with harpist/vocalist Joanna Newsom before Ys most likely knew her through a couple self-made CD-R's and cassettes, later partially re-recorded for debut full-length The Milk-Eyed Mender, which went largely without notice anyway; come this autumn, however, you couldn't read a blog, webzine or magazine without her being mentioned. According to Metacritic, Ys is currently the 5th most critically acclaimed album of 2006, only to be surpassed by Clipse, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Ali Farka Toure. Again, and much like the Clipse one, it's quite an anomaly in so-called popular culture: from the 16th century-style cover and recording process (all on analog tape), to the scale of involvement and, undoubtedly, the music alone. At first, tracks don't even seem to have a logic: there's a full orchestra on four out of five, yet they still sound highly intuitive, yet somehow fully formed too, yet not at all preconceived; Joanna, on the other hand, gets centerstage above everything, and however hard you'd try, she's one of the most impossible-to-ignore singers around (let's not even talk about the voice here). What she's not, and what Ys isn't: something too easy. It will require work, it will require patience, and won't win you over any MTV kids, granted. It won't win you anything - just may or may not respond to a need. Oh well, today at least, Ys is all I need from a record.

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