By this time, with the release of her fourth studio album, Joanna Newsom has already established herself as a wordy, folk-pop singer-songwriter. Also the wife of “Saturday Night Live” alum Andy Samberg, Newsom has gained some notoriety outside of the music, even making a cameo on “Portlandia” with one of her trademark harps.
Divers, Newsom’s fourth studio album, comes after a long wait of five years since her previous album, 2010’s triple LP Have One on Me, which received rave reviews. Divers finds Newsom writing about more general themes of love and life, but perhaps lacks a bit of the strangeness and charm that made her other releases memorable.
Newsom’s crowning achievement was 2006’s Ys, a 55-minute epic consisting of only five songs, some reaching as long as 18 minutes. Perhaps the only album ever to include the words “hydrocephalitic listlessness” and sung in a voice described as a mix “between Bjork and a hand brake,” it was a lot to take in. Still, the boldness of the songcraft, strength and complexity of the lyrical narratives were so far beyond Newsom’s then 24 years that the album has since become a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it cult classic.
Divers is no easier of a listen than Ys, or any other Newsom album. In fact, it might be one of her most difficult albums yet. The album shifts a bit from the medieval folk pastiche featured most prominently on her two previous works, and instead focuses on a more piano-heavy, singer-songwriter approach.
For example, the album’s first single, “Sapokanikan,” is something that could be easily be found in Fiona Apple’s discography. The instrumental arrangements are meticulously done, and Joanna’s vocals are arguably better than ever.
While the piano ballads can verge on sounding overworked and too long, the simplest songs on Divers are the most interesting. The track that resonates the most on first listen is the simplistic “A Pin-Light Bent.” The album’s booklet lists all of the instrumentalists who are featured on each song, but only Joanna and her harp play in this track. It is a jarringly intimate listen with thought-provoking lyrics — one of Newsom’s best songs to date.
Still, some of these songs seem a bit plain by Newsom standards. The lyrics are simpler than ever before, though they are 10 times more complex than anything on the radio. But the stories seem a bit too loose to hold onto.
Opening track “Anecdotes” is frankly underwhelming and doesn’t have a solid narrative to keep the listener interested. Other tracks like “Goose Eggs” are more pleasant to listen to, but Newsom’s storytelling doesn’t quite effectively get the point across in the song’s five minutes.
It’s impossible to say Divers is bad music, just as many would say it’s impossible to say War and Peace is a bad book. Still, it’s not easy to get the motivation to sit through a book spanning more than a thousand pages, no matter the quality. A lot of this album needs a bit of sweetening up to keep things a bit more interesting.
Divers is a worthy album to have on in the background while reading or relaxing at home, but it’s not among this year’s, or even Newsom’s, finest. The album could definitely be considered an “acquired taste,” perhaps taking a while before truly sinking in. This remains to be seen, but for now, it stands as another solid attempt by one of the 2000s’ most talented songwriters and musicians.
Michael’s Picks: “A Pin-Light Bent,” “Same Old Man” and “Sapokanikan.”
Rating: 3.5/5
