Have One On Me

We'll start with question No. 2. Yes, she needed to release a triple album. Why? Well, because the style of music Newsom makes is overwhelming. Taking up about 124 minutes of disc space, Have One On Me could have easily fit on two discs with room to spare. But Newsom, wisely, I think, split her songs up into three separate pieces, by doing so, keeping her listeners from feeling overwhelmed. I was skeptical at first, and thus slow to play along. Eventually I started digging in, getting to know one disc at a time, spending about a month or two with each disc before moving on to the next - no matter how strong the urge to jump ahead was. The result? About nine months of never-boring and very-frequent Newsom-love. The only other proper triple album I ever kept in my collection, The Clash's Sandinista!, is a great one, for sure, but not the kind of album that you can explore for the better part of a year. No, only Have One On Me, and endlessly interesting listen, offers that much entertainment. (And maybe Bitches Brew.)

For starters, the record is far more accessible than the previous two Newsom records - flirting with jazz, pop and even blues genres, as well as her usual outsider folk sound. The songs, averaging about six minutes in length (some are nine minutes, some three) and all pretty elaborately composed, almost all feel like little journeys, full of musical twists and turns - vocals leading the way at almost every second of every song. Like Ys, there are plenty of string arrangements and, of course, Newsom's signature harp playing. But we also hear a healthy amount of piano and, most importantly (to my ears, at least), a whole new vocal style. While Newsom claims that her voice changed due to "natural reasons and health problems" (which very well may be true), it seems like she's been slowly developing her singing style since her debut, leaving behind her once overbooked style in favor of a more natural, elegant approach. Needless to say, she's become one of the best and most creative American vocalists around - not just her voice, but the many different ways she uses it, adding buckets of nuance to every line.

I've seen where other reviews have compared Newsom to Laura Nyro, Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell. Meh. Sure, I think fans of those ladies would love Newsom … but all four artists so have their own thing going on. I could go on, describing the songs and why I like them so much, talking about all the different ways Newsom has adapted her signature sound in order to warrant putting out the unthinkable - a triple record. I could talk about how dreamlike and pixie-friendly her lyrics continue to be, or how mysterious she, in general, continues to be. I won't. This is one of those records that you just have to hear - over and over again - to understand. And, honestly, despite this being a challenging and long record, the chances are good that you might even like much of it - which isn't something I would've ever felt comfortable saying about Newsom before this record. There are even songs here that could be confused as college radio single fare, if you can believe it.

In closing, I'd like to add a third question: 3) How lucky are we to have such a unique voice working in her prime? And not just a unique artist working in her prime, but a young, growing artist who is so generous that she'll release a triple album! Before the release of Have One One Me I was constantly asking myself how good Joanna Newsom really is. Sure, her first record, 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, was a good freak-folk listen, but I always felt it was a bit schtick-y, mostly due to her then-extreme vocal style. Ys, a record I consider to be something of a landmark in the history of modern indie music, was the record that made me a solid fan. But, to this day, I've wondered about that album. Not only did Newsom have the brilliant Jim O'Rourke working on the record, but she had the legendary Van Dyke Parks on her studio team - as well as Steve Albini and Bill "Smog" Callahan. How could you not make a great record with such company?

Speculate no more. Not as long as Have One On Me - a record made by an artist who has clearly gone through a period of deep and diverse genre exploration -  exists. Sure, there are a handful of lesser songs here, but that's expected when you release over two hours of new, non-jammy studio music. The bulk of the record is as amazing as anything Newsom has ever done, solidifying her place as not just one of the best of her time, but a matchless artist who appears to be an absolute genius of craft and style. An amazing record that should have been in my Top 5 of 2010, and the best triple record since 1980's Sandinista!, if not ever.   9.5/10

Written by G. William Locke