Joanna Newsom Album Reviews

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The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)

Joanna Newsom

The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)

8

Bridges and Balloons / Sprout and the Bean / The Book of Right-On / Sadie / Inflammatory Wit / This Side of the Blue / "En Gallop" / Cassiopeia / Peach, Plum, Pear / Swansea / Three Little Babes / Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie

Harpo Marx used to be my favorite harp player… but that's when I heard Joanna Newsom's divisive debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender. It will take you about twenty seconds into "Bridges and Balloons" to understand why this album seems to upset as many people as it fills others with delight. That voice, situating itself somewhere in between chirping childishness, ex-Catatonia front woman Cerys Matthews and one of Björk's alter egos, is definitely not what you'd expect when looking at the album cover. While the voice has an almost-angelic quality to it (in the restrained "This Side of the Blue," for instance), it also can sound something theatrical and irritating ("Inflammatory Wit"), or perversely enchanting (her off-key vocals in "Sadie," for instance, might remind you of your little sister's bathtub songs). However, despite the whole thing being a bit too cutesy for my taste at times, her voice remains striking in its originality, which is further enhanced by her peculiar phrasing and lyrics. For a while, I presumed the entire Newsom album was something of a sham, a marketing trick, stylized to appeal to a new audience that would buy anything, as long as it was sold to them the proper way. As if the angelic vocals aren't enough, the (pretty) album art is designed as a piece of embroidery with a peacock feather, coins and leaves glued to it. On top of that, you get the whole basic vocabulary about fruit, vegetables, toys and nature phenomena - but the addition of nonsensical verses (that actually sound good) certainly puts things between brackets. What would you otherwise do with lyrics such as "Catanaries and dirigibles brace and buoy in the living room / a loom of metal, warp-woof-wimble / and a timblesworth of milky moon can touch hearts larger than thimble" ("Bridges and Balloons") or "And the hexes heart covertly like a slow low-flying turkey / like a Texan drying jerky but his meaty mitts can't hurt me" ("Cassiopeia")? Willfully absurd lyrics like that may offend you or - as is the case with me - transform into a long stretch of syllables that are just another part of the music. If the voice, the package and the imagery aren't already enough, Newsom's also a harp virtuoso, although I'm just guessing about that last statement. It surely does sound like that, though, as her fingers seem to flutter over the strings with a butterfly's light touch. If you're not really familiar with the instrument, you might not even realize you're not listening to a classic guitar, although the harp has the capability of sounding even more sugary-sweet. The delicate approach works well in most of the songs, the way she plucks those string during "Sprout and the Bean," for instance, is sheer bliss, as it immediately evokes unreal images to accompany the nearly ethereal music and fairytale-lyrics. Other highlights that are flat-out beautiful are the lengthy "Sadie" and "Swansea," a ballad Joni Mitchell would have been proud of. While the weight of the album lies in these low-key songs, there are a few diversions to ensure the album doesn't become too monotonous. The piano-driven "Inflammatory Wit" is pure, silly fun; the multi-tracked vocals in "Peach, Plum, Pear" (with harpsichord!) sound like a mass sung by twenty endearing little angels, and the melody of the chilly traditional "Three Little Babes" has something in common with The Pogues' drunken lament "Dirty Old Town." The Milk-Eyed Mender constantly walks the thin line between striking originality and irritating mannerisms, accessibility and obscurity, sparse musicianship and a bombastic approach and stylistically between folk, country and extraordinary lullabies. It might be too much to digest in one setting, but at least you'll listen to a genuinely interesting new talent who made her entrance with a bang. Sort of. Bong-Bing-Bung!!