08.
Joanna Newsom / The Milk-Eyed Mender
I know. It is probably much too early to have The Milk-Eyed Mender creeping this far up my list. But, the truth is, as the dust settles from 2004 and the years stretch on, I really do believe that Joanna Newsom’s first record will only continue to crawl higher up it.
It simply did so much for me. It reminded me how such little, subtle songs can rouse so much excitement. It’s the stuff that I fell asleep to, only to leave me excited to awake for the mere fact that I can listen to it again. It brought me to realize how powerful and how affecting one tiny voice in the world can be.
Everything about this album exudes perfection - like the notes and melodies were placed here by the gods. Yes, of course the album’s palpable elements still overwhelm me every time - the gleeful exuberance of “Peach, Plum, Pear” and the heart-seizing plucks and cries of “Sadie.” But what adds to its warmth and human charm are the little flaws and details - the cough from a man at 1:13 into “Sadie,” the wash of waves as “The Book of Right-On” sinks into silence. Those special little blemishes.
After seeing her perform twice, a feeling has swept over me both times that I have not felt before or since - a sense of innate calmness, an emotion not unlike tranquility. Like I was holding my breath, worried my exhale would disturb the quiet rustles of her music, its gentle wings. And her music upholds such things: the triumph of tenderness, the power of subtlety, and the conquest of affection. Ultimately, her homespun songs remind me of love: why we bother to face this world at all, the one factor that makes it all worth while. And the memories of this music with the girl I love I include in the fondest moments of my life.
Throughout last summer, this was my soundtrack to the world. It’s music that made me want to cancel plans with friends just so I could wrap her twelve songs around me even tighter. It’s music that I could share as an intimate secret with you, Erin. It’s music about acorns and beans and seas and bones - about the small wonders of this natural world. For all the talk of unicorns, fairies, and otherworldly elements, Joanna, for me, achieved something far greater: she made this ordinary world of ours seem wonderfully new and endlessly exciting.