Joanna Newsom: This will sound strange, considering how different this album ended up being, but I didn’t set out to do something different. Question 1: What were you hoping to evoke differently on Ys than what you did on Milk-Eyed Mender? Newsom agreed to a rare interview with STOP SMILING via email, her preferred medium. While her second album has only five tracks, each song’s epic length and breathtaking heft of full orchestral arrangements churns into a substantial and compelling work. She combined elements of folk, classical and pop with the whimsy of lullabies, and scored an opening spot for Bonnie “Prince” Billy and signed to Drag City Records shortly thereafter.Īfter the critical calamity over 2004’s full-length The Milk-Eyed Mender, the dainty songwriter returns with Ys. First playing keyboards in San Francisco’s the Pleased, this Nevada City, California native began her solo adventures in 2002 with the self-released collection, Walnut Whales. The following interview with Joanna Newsom originally ran in Issue 28: 20 InterviewsĪrmed with a Celtic harp and an incomparable voice, Joanna Newsom hit the independent music world with a pluck and a warble.
