Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
(2010, Drag City Records)
Grade: B+
Have One on Me marks a distinct change in direction for Joanna Newsom, after the sprawling density of her
previous album, 2006’s Ys.
Her bizarre foreign-sounding approach to singing has been toned down a significant amount and she sounds down to Earth throughout the album. A similar occurrence has taken place to her songwriting; all the arrangements are open and inviting, primarily featuring her beautiful harp and piano playing and often including subtle horns, strings and percussion. Her lyrics are as impenetrable as ever, but Newsom has written some wonderful melodies to accompany them.
However it might take several listens for them to reveal themselves, since Have One on Me is not a single but a triple album and at over two hours long, there’s a lot of music here to digest. The majority of the highlights come near the beginning, but despite a few dips into slight boredom midway through the second disk, the overall quality of the music remains high and the relaxing nature of most of this record makes it easy to listen to in its entirety.
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