Joanna Newsom
The Milk-Eyed Mender

THE REVIEW

Enchanting. Like the whims and pouts of a little girl who doesn't accept the reasons of adults.
Mmm... a bit sentimental as an introduction, but, after all, it's hard not to talk about children for this quirky Folk-Singer: she's been described as a "Bjork at the Zecchino d'Oro," and, all things considered, they got it right enough. She reminds of the Icelandic singer's early days (I think of the Sugarcubes) when she often swayed childishly in the melodies, only to move on to near shouts in the choruses.
The material shaped, however, is American Folk and the Mood is that of the Blues: no earthy or whiskey flavors, however, because in trying to reproduce a child's vision of the world, the edges are softened, melodies and atmospheres sweetened.

To complete the picture, two elements are missing.
Firstly, the guitar is replaced by a harp (!), which is played in a rather unusual way, more like a Folk guitar actually; the effect is very pleasant and spot on.
The last element of the mosaic is the lyrics: as Newsom herself admits, the main focus is on the rhythm of the words, which are therefore often bizarre and construct equally strange pictures, like children's drawings (forgive the insistence!) where the visual language may not be 'correct,' but the sensations evoked are nonetheless clear and strong.

Rating: I feel like giving it a 4 and I don't know why... meh? It might be a generational gap issue... but no! 5!