Music
‘IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS TO RECOGNISE HER MUSICAL ABILITY’ Hitlist THE BEST ROCK, POP, JAZZ & FOLK*
✽✽ Come on Gang!, Found and Jesus H Foxx It’s a busy month for COG!, as this single launch sees them joined by some of Edinburgh’s finest. The Caves, Edinburgh, Fri 10 Sep. ✽✽ Fun Lovin’ Criminals If you must go to one late-90s revival show steeped in faux gangster patter this fortnight, make it this one. HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, Sat 10 Sep. ✽✽ Black Mountain Sludgy Canadian psych-rockers pull their very best Black Sabbath impression in the week their new album is released. Oran Mor, Glasgow, Tue 14 Sep. ❘❘✽✽ Here We Go Magic and Come On Gang! Inventive Brooklyn indie meets excitable Edinburgh power-pop in a dream double-bill. Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Tue 14 Sep. ✽✽ The Vaselines The first Scottish show from reformed Glaswegian indie heroes Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee following the release of their 20-years-in-the-making second album, Sex With an X. See preview, page 67. Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Wed 15 Sep. ✽✽ Wilco and Phil Selway Jeff Tweedy’s alternative country pioneers are back, with Radiohead drummer Phil Selway in support of his new solo album. Barrowland, Glasgow, Thu 16 Sep ✽✽ MGMT and Dum Dum Girls The spaced-out Brooklynites return to the live stage in support of their rewarding sophomore album Congratulations. Barrowland, Glasgow, Mon 20 & Tue 21 Sep. ✽✽ David Shrigley and Correcto Esteemed Glaswegian illustrator Shrigley launches his new book with a DJ set and animation show, while local supergroup Correcto lend support to proceedings. Mono, Glasgow, Thu 23 Sep.
Musical evolution Mastering the harp, redefining folk music and modelling for Armani is just the start of Joanna Newson’s flourishing career, writes Ryan Drever
W hen she was first brought to the attention of UK audiences by that most reliable eccentric, Jools Holland, Joanna Newsom seemed like just another obligatory obscure artist plucked from the ceiling-high stacks of specialist music magazines no doubt cluttering the Later . . . research office. As she began to play though, dwarfed by her harp, decked in bizarre headgear and possessing a voice that flitted between cartoon eight- year-old and vintage folk singer, her performance was a sight – and sound – to behold. There were some who found it all a little too unusual and perhaps as good a reason as any to change the channel, but ultimately it became apparent they were the ones missing a trick.
For a start, it doesn’t take a genius to recognise the technical ability at Newsom’s disposal, being both an accomplished harpist and pianist. After an initial run of homespun CD-Rs garnered her some worthy attention, Newsom – cutting her teeth alongside fellow Californians and wide-eyed folk visionaries such as Devendra Banhart and Vetiver – released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004. In between a range of unique and often jarring vocal deliveries, the more restrained pieces of work such as ‘Bridges and Balloons’, ‘Crab, Cockle, Cowrie’ and ‘This Side of the Blue’, the latter also used surprisingly tastefully as part of an ad campaign for Orange, showed a real depth and beauty to her songwriting, extending far beyond the initial novelty of her quirky, pixie-esque aesthetic.
step in an otherworldly direction, seeing her enlist the help of legendary composer Van Dyke Parks to colour in her sound with his own spiralling orchestration. The resulting five-track opus was ambitious, to say the least, with each song reaching far beyond conventional run times and accompanied by what can only be described as a tome of lyrics. Paired with incredibly intricate and regal artwork and packaging, the album possessed an almost medieval feel to it and offered a rare and enveloping musical experience; a point that was expressed ten-fold on the accompanying tour in which Newsom hit the road with full orchestra in tow.
In the few years since, her ethereal beauty has been put to more straightforward use, modelling for the likes of Armani and appearing in the music video for MGMT’s anthem ‘Kids’. However, any worries of a permanent change of vocation were delightfully shattered earlier this year with the release of Newsom’s third full-length (and we mean that) Have One On Me. Though undoubtedly different from Ys’ conceptual splendour, the album, spanning three vinyl-length discs, is no less a sprawling achievement than its predecessor and marks the continuing evolution of both Newsom’s voice and her craft. Returning to Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall this month to showcase tracks from all three albums, Ms Newsom is sure to be just as enchanting as ever – a treat for both avid followers and the uninitiated alike.
The 2006 follow-up Ys was to prove an even bolder Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Mon 20 Sep.
66 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010