Shruggle

Finally CJSR has fixed their messed up computer so I can listen to their radio station on the internet again. Yesterday I heard a song that just blew me away. I was quite interested in learning who was singing this song so I emailed the music director of the station and asked him what song was playing at 3:15pm and gave him a vague description. Thankfully and surprisingly I got a response the next day - Joanna Newsom and the album is The Milk-Eyed Mender.

This is the type of music that I tend to gravitate towards that shares some similarities with some of my other favourite artists like Hayden, Feist, and Johnny Cash . First of all she has a very interesting voice, in fact it might be a bit too interesting for some peoples tastes. Secondly the instrumentation is simple and acoustic. For the most part she just plays her harp which sounds amazing and a lot like a guitar or a.. keyboard or something. Thirdly she has very interesting and unusual lyrics and makes use of words that you don't commonly hear. This appeals to me and is a nice change from brainless songwriting that rhyme 'maybe' with 'baby' and all those other cliched songs. Fourthly she is adorable! Below are a few links that I have dug up.

Here are three streaming videos from this BBC site that has some content about her. You really get to see her skill at the harp an singing style.
Sadie
Peach, Plum, Pear
Swansea
*edit* - I guess these links don't work, but you can see them if you go to the BBC site linked above.


I find the whole album quite amazing and I thought I would include the song that caught my attention on the radio. It is also in live, video form above. Nab it here Peach, Plum, Pear (reminder that it probably expires after a week)