joanna newsom - ys

[kid cue]

yeah, i did ................... i'm not sure yet.

i have zero problems with the pretension, the frilliness, and the voice. i appreciate all of that. sticking to yr guns, being what you like, etc.

at first i wasn't sure why these long rambling songs were praised for transcending their length and rambly-ness. my knee-jerk theory was that 95% of the positivity was coming from indie kids getting lost in the style, and urban dance warriors astonished to hear something melodic and long which managed to be basically interesting--both constituencies tending not to have much exposure to other melodic, long-form music, like classical.

but i think that was a mostly BS argument. i still don't really understand what the big deal is about Joanna's compositions (the value of her singing and lyrics and aesthetic i can buy), but that might just be me not paying enough attention to musical structure. i do know that i'm more and more compelled to put the record on, and the songs start to sound like pop songs that've been elongated to 3x what they normally are. that can't be a huge deal though, can it?