Joanna Newsom isn't known for her especially enticing interviews. When asked about her creative process, she usually expels extensive, detailed explanations of her composition and song structure, hinting that she draws, lyrically, from her own experiences, but leaving out all the parts of her personal life that led up to composing such intense and complex pieces of music.
It's not a light read by any means and her answers would never interest a marginal fan. But then again, Newsom doesn't write songs for the marginal musical fan, either.
Lucky for all of us at The Pabst Theater last night, she chose to employ those same straight forward tactics when performing live. Backed by a 29-piece (a marimba player was added at the last minute) orchestra, the petite harpist set forth on an epic journey through "Ys," her acclaimed sophomore album of 2006, song by song. Nary a note was missed during an hour of what felt like flawless presentation -- though she did admit to her mistakes when she made them, however indistinguishable to the audience -- bringing the crowed theater to an awed hush.
Our collective stillness was brilliantly contrasted by her rapid finger picking, which was perhaps most highlighted by "Sawdust and Diamonds," a song she took to alone while her orchestral counterparts seemed to watch in as much amazement as the rest of us.
Newsom rightfully steals the golden glow of the spotlight no matter how many other musicians join her on stage, but that's not to say her counterparts -- especially drummer Neal Morgan, who lent his voice to her remake of "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" on this year's "Joanna Newsom & the Ys Street Band EP" -- weren't a welcome addition.
Morgan joined her in harmony on several songs, the most successful of which was the smoothed out honky-tonk version of the otherwise choppy and commanding "Inflammatory Writ."
Milwaukee was the first stop of Newsom's very brief orchestral tour of the United States, which brings her and crew next to Austin, then Seattle, followed by two shows in California and ending in Atlanta. While on stage for the first half of last night's show, her orchestra reproduced Van Dyke Parks' arrangements with polite precision, with Newsom choreographing with winding word and poetic plucking of strings.
The second half of the performance left Newsom with just drummer Morgan to her left and guitar / banjo / tamboura player Ryan Francesconi to her right for what began as a read through of "The Milk-Eyed Mender" but finished with "Colleen," the British Isles-inspired new song on her EP. Bathed in soft bronze light, Newsom closed with a solo -- an amazing eight-minute piece that is so brand new that it's still untitled.
Though she struck a wrong chord during it -- a fumble she executed with grace and giggles -- the song was beautifully strong and a promising hint of what the future holds for this young composer.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
