Joanna Newsom, backed by a 28 Piece Orchestra, will perform at Pabst Theater on Sunday, October 21st, at 8pm.
Enter the beauty that is JOANNA NEWSOM... A visionary artist, backed by a full 28-piece orchestra! Enter a vivid and beautiful painting that you can walk into; a magic window into another world that you'll be happy to get lost in. One of only 4 US performances. HER ONLY MIDWEST SHOW
" She swoops into the sky and races across the ground, names every plant and every desire, and never feels less than real. The people who hear this record will split into two crowds: The ones who think it's silly and precious, and the ones who, once they hear it, won't be able to live without it." 9.4 -Pitchfork Media
"Magical for reasons you can't quite put your finger on. Within minutes of it starting, you're struck by the rare sensation that you've entering uncharted, original territory. A hard sell, perhaps, but it could be the best musical investment you make all year." 5 Stars -The Guardian
Joanna Newsom spent a lot time moving around — first touring much of the United States and then Europe, over and over and over. It was nice sometimes. There was an amazing tour of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand (with Smog) and a beautiful trip in Iceland where a couple of shows were played. Along the road, there were lots of festivals to play as well: Bonaroo, Sasquatch, Green Man, Rothskilde, ATP, and the Patti Smith-curated Meltdown Festival…maybe even a few others. Joanna played a benefit concert with her hero Neil Young too. She blew everyone away at all these shows, by the way.
In moments not involving the harp, the singing and the audiences around the world, there were other travels — like a car trip through Portugal with her flute-playing friend Ariella (one of the few people Joanna’s played with so far onstage; though shows of the near-future will hopefully involve many other players) and a few weeks in Costa Rica on a family kayaking vacation. At some point in there, Joanna moved from San Francisco back to the hills of northern California to record Ys
The songs, conceived with harp and voice and tracked as such by Steve Albini, were arranged with kindness and love by the legendary Van Dyke Parks over several months of correspondence and collaboration with Joanna.
At the end of the day, the instrument count included strings, woodwinds, and brass plus dulcimer, marimba, various percussive instruments (including a horse skull!), banjo, mandolin, electric bass guitar (played by master of mellow Lee Sklar), electric guitar (played by jazz-great(-and-definitive-MAD-magazine-authority) Grant Geisseman), and accordion played by Van Dyke himself.
If this seems like a bit of an overfull house — wait’ll you hear the mix Jim O’Rourke made of it! It’s light and lilting, with Joanna front and center and sounds blowing and tearing and swelling around her, in perfect consort. The wide-screen beauty of Ys is due to, among other things, a scrupulously all-analog production involving forty-odd tracks spread over two synched-up 24-track tape machines, mixed to tape and mastered at Abbey Road, home of the all-analog
mastering path!
Benjamin Vierling of Grass Valley, CA did the cover painting old-master style, with layers of egg-tempura and glazes. Strictly 16th-century processes, just like the recording of the album. When something suits something else so sweetly, it can’t be denied. Ys is the proof, and a sweet and stormy proof it is. We’d call it album of the year — but which of the five-or-so thousand years to place it in? Joanna’s music belongs to all time. -- www.pabsttheater.org
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