Joanna Newsom's novel approach to songwriting has been obvious since her 2004 debut, "The Milk-Eyed Mender." The album was almost painfully intimate, with deftly picked harp underpinnings cradling her charmingly hesitant voice. Newsom's penchant for challenging, playfully abstract lyrics and fluid song structures immediately set her apart from other singer-songwriters. Her latest album, the three-disc epic "Have One On Me," sees Newsom at a new level of maturity.
"Have One On Me" augments the scope of "Ys" (2006), Newsom's follow-up to "The Milk-Eyed Mender," without sacrificing the plaintive intimacy that made Newsom's debut so effective. Despite its intimidating length, the album is surprisingly even and readily absorbing.
That being said, any effort to digest the album in one sitting would be pointless. Unlike most great albums, "Have One On Me" is best heard in fragments; the vast majority of the tracks are well above the six-minute mark.
If the length of the songs wasn't enough, the depth of Newsom's lyrics is plenty to make any extended listening overwhelming for the uninitiated. On first go, the sprawling structures of songs like "Soft as Chalk" and "Esme" play out like "Moby Dick" (1851) for a sixth grader. For all the challenges it poses to its audience, "Have One on Me" rewards repeated listenings beautifully.
In Newsom's past album, the orchestrally infused "Ys," the singer-songwriter experimented with extended song structures and complex arrangements. The album's elaborate ornamentation showed Newsom's ambition, but it also spread her young talent a little thin. While "Ys" was lush and enthralling, the richness of its harp and symphonic passages was almost cloying at times, leaving some listeners with a desire for the stripped-down sound of Newsom's debut.
Thanks to Newsom's newfound confidence as a vocalist and bandleader, she fills the space of her ambitious tracks with a subtle strength that was absent on the gushing string sections of "Ys." Newsom wisely tones it down for "Have One On Me," opting for the articulate support of a folk band. While strings do appear on several tracks, Newsom projects herself far more assertively over them, as shown in the opening tune "Easy."
While one might wonder how the artist behind introspective ditties like "Sawdust & Diamonds" could carry an entire group, Newsom handles the musicians with great nuance.
Instead of coating the album with mandolin riffs and string swells, she saves the band for the most propitious moments, using it to add momentum to her ever-shifting arrangements.
"Baby Birch," a song on the record, effortlessly segues from a typical Newsom pseudo-ballad to an energetic toe-tapper with drums, guitar and jovial handclaps. The song concludes with an unexpectedly Asian twist as harp, mandolin and pan flute harmonize on a decidedly Eastern theme.
While "Have One On Me" still has its fair share of solo harp tunes — Newsom's trademark — the album draws most of its energy from the variety and depth added by the backup band. The antiquated piano pop of "Soft as Chalk" would feel out of place on any previous Newsom album, but the tambourines and eager snare hits feel perfectly at home on the track here.
Though Newsom has enlarged the variety of sounds she works with, "Have One on Me" still exudes the whimsical charisma that has made her work so engaging.
This newfound versatility will probably characterize most of Newsom's later releases, as she continues to gain confidence in unfamiliar territory.
For this reason, "Have One On Me" will be seen as an important moment in Newsom's career; it is the first time her remarkable talent as a singer-songwriter has fulfilled the scope of her ambition. The result is one of the best albums of the year so far.
