Crib Notes

(photo by Todd Cole)

Joanna Newsom’s concert with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra last Saturday, Nov. 17, felt slightly anti-climatic. Not that it wasn’t brilliant, mind you. It took place more than a year after the rapturous acclaim that greeted her second album, Ys. (You can read my review of Ys here.) Its release and the near-universal appreciation that immediately followed it was so memorable that it seemed not only a response to a masterpiece, but a moment in time, a swell of hype unto itself.

Newsom’s accompaniment was a drummer, guitarist and backing vocalist — members of the Ys Street Band, I assumed — and the ASO. The ASO organizes a few pop concerts a year, but this concert seemed to make more sense than its other collaborations. (Admittedly, I had never seen the ASO before.) Instead of playing Benny Goodman to Queen Latifah, it lent texture and sweep to Newsom’s long story-songs about growing up in rural California and fictive explorations of 19th century America. Her rapturous harp playing and the ASO’s interpolations made for a wonderful combination.

Using the harp as an expressive instrument, Newsom played with an incredible adeptness. She performed one of the songs completely by herself, but I kept darting my eyes around the stage, trying to figure out who was playing alongside her. Her harp playing was an orchestra unto itself.

The concert lasted a little more than an hour, and Newsom only performed five songs, but it was enough. Musically, it was a lot to absorb, and some of the audience members, most of whom were nattily dressed college students and twentysomethings, might have grown weary. I couldn’t imagine seeing her at some rock club in front of a bunch of drunken yahoos talking loudly over one another. Her music demands silence from the audience.

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Tags: ASO, Joanna-Newsom.