{"id":698,"date":"2009-10-20T17:59:59","date_gmt":"2009-10-21T01:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hilbertthm90.wordpress.com\/?p=698"},"modified":"2019-10-29T07:40:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T12:40:01","slug":"joanna-newsom-ys-art-done-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amindformadness.com\/2009\/10\/joanna-newsom-ys-art-done-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Joanna Newsom Ys Review: Art Done Right"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joanna Newsom’s Ys<\/em> is a polarizing album even after all these years. But it’s also the quintessential example of what art could be when done right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you write novels, music, or produce in a visual medium, I think a lot can be gained from studying why this album works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to hear my analysis along with my philosophy of art.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"joanna<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ys Backstory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I completely understand where people are coming from that hate this album. There are people who say the vocals are shrill, the songs are too long<\/a>, or even unstructured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all true. The songs are through-composed, which tends to be an older style of music without verses or choruses. This allows a long-form story to be told. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, even astute listeners tend to get confused about the story in these songs. We’ll get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, as I understand the back story, this is an album that recounts a full year of Joanna Newsom’s life. The lyrics are directly referencing actual, real, exact events of her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the lyrics are incredibly abstract. The concreteness of the events that they are based on gives the songs every bit of emotion and realness as if she were telling the events straight-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lyrical abstraction into story-metaphors allows the listeners to interpret into their own situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve put serious listening into this album at three very different points in my life. All three times I have been 100% sure that I knew exactly what had happened in Newsom’s life that she was referring to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three times my interpretations have been radically different. This is because I was identifying so well with the emotion and metaphor in the song. I am completely baffled at my current listening, but again it fits my own life perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philosophy of Art<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To me, this is exactly what art should be. It should be an abstracting of real life in such a way that the viewer feels as if it is exactly their own situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some interesting cases out there that I could bring up. The first that comes to mind is Connor Oberst (at least in the early Bright Eyes<\/a> stuff). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is incredibly emotive and about some really intense things. Overall, Oberst is very specific lyrically. I think in this case that is alienating. As a listener, it is hard to change the details of these specific stories to really relate to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I haven’t put a lot of thought into is whether this interpretation of great art translates well outside of the song\/poem medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a writer, I think it does. There’s a saying that the more specific you are, the more general it becomes. This sounds paradoxical, but it makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you say some general platitude like money can’t buy happiness<\/em>, then people don’t respond. They roll their eyes. But now if you write a very specific story with this as the theme, you can make the person feel it without being patronizing or preachy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more vivid and specific the details, the more the person will experience the underlying messages and think of them as their own. Art doesn’t have to have a message, but this connection it can make is essential in my view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Foster Wallace said that literature is important because it makes us feel less alone. We see that others have all had the same thoughts and experiences as us. This is something that art can do in a way that nothing else can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanna Newsom’s Ys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"joanna<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are many other aspects of Joanna Newsom’s music I could go on about, but I think what I just mentioned is the key element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s uncompromising in its radical artistic vision. But it’s also incredibly vivid in the descriptive language. It’s so specific as to be fully general to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe I should give some examples of her lyrics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll post the entire song Sawdust & Diamonds<\/em> but know it may get taken down someday:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n