May 21 2007
Joanna NewsomJoanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band EP
Drag City; 2007
Rating: 8.2
Back in the day, rock & roll was defined by three things: driving guitars, thick beats, and charismatic frontmen. Loud guitars gave kids a way to rebel against their parents’ Lawrence Welk records, drums afforded them the opportunity to reject those dorky ballroom dancing lessons (and freak out their parents with over-the-top sexuality), and those ever-so-gorgeous frontmen embodied all that parents hated about this new genre of music (there’s that Elvis guy, for instance). While rock music eventually began to embrace the presence of women as lead singers (take Janis, Nico, Stevie, or Pat as salient examples), the formula rarely received any tweaking – the guitars still blared, the drums still shook, and the singers did their best to captivate their audiences with their energy and personality. Rock still rocked.
But it seems that indie rock, no matter how you define the style, has recently been curious to see what might happen if you remove all of the old elements and invite in esoteric instrumentation. With 2005 finding Sufjan Stevens and his banjo capturing everyone’s hearts with Come on Feel the Illinoise, 2006 & 2007 might just be the years of the harp as Joanna Newsom has captivated critics and listeners with her deep, intense Shakespearean story-songs. Continue reading “Joanna NewsomJoanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band”
