Where would I be without KEXP? Musically worse off, that’s for sure. It’s almost as if they followed me over here from Seattle, with a streaming audio site that just might be the best one out there. If you don’t know it already I suggest you have a listen.
A recent” find” of mine there is Joanna Newsom, a gifted harpist and songwriter who weaves some of the most poignant melodies and lyrics I’ve heard. Take this passage from Emily, the opening track on her new release Ys
in due time we will see the far butte lit by a flare
I’ve seen your bravery, and I will follow you there
and row through the nighttime
gone healthy
gone healthy all of a sudden
in search of the midwife
who could help me
who could help me
help me find my way back in
there are worries where I’ve been
say, say, say in the lee of the bay; don’t be bothered
leave your troubles here where the tugboats shear the water from the water
(flanked by furrows, curling back, like a match held up to a newspaper)
Emily, they’ll follow your lead by the letter
and I make this claim, and I’m not ashamed to say I know you better
what they’ve seen is just a beam of your sun that banishes winter
let us go! though we know it’s a hopeless endeavor
the ties that bind, they are barbed and spined and hold us close forever
though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning
there is a song I woke with on my lips as you sailed your great ship towards the morning
come on home, the poppies are all grown knee-deep by now
blossoms all have fallen, and the pollen ruins the plow
peonies nod in the breeze and while they wetly bow, with
hydrocephalitic listlessness ants mop up-a their brow and everything with wings is restless, aimless, drunk and dour
the butterflies and birds collide at hot, ungodly hours
and my clay-colored motherlessness rangily reclines
– come on home, now! all my bones are dolorous with vines
Other reviews I’ve read suggest her voice-a lilting, cracked and warbling affair–takes some getting used to, but I am finding difficult to get enough. It sticks with me throughout the day, making want more and a still closer inspection of her rich lyrical escpades. Highly recommended!