| · The irony is... she's serious.
If Cat Power was trapped inside Ethel Merman's body, the result would be Joanna Newsom. Take a moment to digest that image. Now here's the really frightening thing, her instrument of choice? The harp. Yep, you read right. Those gigantic, gilded monstrosities that angels play on big, fluffy clouds. Still with me? OK, here's the kicker. It's awesome.
Newsom's child-like, cat-in-heat vocals somehow work. Her winsome lyrics on topics ranging from butt heads to mollusk weddings are both sweet and sinister, beautiful and jarring. Newsom's elfin imaginings are a bit unsettling but at the same time enchanting. Her harp accompaniments are a far cry from boring, old symphonies. Borrowing inspiration from the most unlikely places – Appalachian folk music and contemporary rock – "The Book of Right-On" is a righteous rallying call and her cutesy lyrics will break your heart ("I killed my dinner with karate/ Kick 'em in the face, taste the body/ Shallow work is the work that I do").
The Milk-Eyed Mender brings to mind images of dilapidated front porches and running barefoot carrying a bucket of worms under a full moon. The album is a little Joni Mitchell, a touch of the kid from Deliverance, and a splash of burned-out indie queen. Genius.
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