Newsom's new opus embodies maturity and depth

Joanna Newsom
"Have One On Me"
4.5 Stars

On the cover of her new triple album "Have One On Me," Joanna Newsom is stretched lankily on a covered couch, surrounded by detritus strewn every which way — an orgy of availability. The disorganized room, like a pack rat's garage sale, exemplifies her newest work. Clocking in at over two hours and dominated by typical harp artistry and lyrical majesty, Newsom's album is crammed with intention. It's a musical flagon filled to the brim.

Indulgent and at times fatiguing, "Have One On Me" still succeeds in evading the Newsom naysayers to deliver the most cerebrally challenging music you've heard in a while. It's a consolidation of her past sounds, an endurance test bound together by the lyrical theme of love.
The major accomplice to the heartache lyrics is Newsom's new voice, purer and less unsteady than in previous works, containing a confidence hardened by maturity and love lost. She gives us momentary glimpses of a chesty belt in "Have One On Me" and turns into a shockingly vulnerable soprano in "'81."

Newsom retains some ridiculous quirks, proselytizing to tarantulas and other spiders in "Have One On Me." May God save you, poor spiders, in the name of Joanna. She also mentions a satellite feed in "No Provenance," a surprisingly modern reference for a woman who sounds like she's still pining for the days of Arthur and Lancelot.

Ideas and flourishes abound in the knotty chamber perfection of the meandering orchestra. Themes and extended schema emerge, but not riffs. It can be maddening.

The best song is "Good Intentions Paving Co.," the title a clear reference to the axiom, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Her lyrical scavenger hunt attempts to deduce who exactly is laying the asphalt down to good ol' Lucifer, but a song this joyous would make you want to stay in hell. Piano as thick as poured concrete leads to "oohs" oozing in antiphony and an undulating piano. The latter sounds like it's being triggered by Willy Wonka stepping from stair to stair.

Newsom's love is intimate but strangely distant (especially since she's dating Andy Samberg). Whoever's on the other end of the failed relationship is anonymously addressed as "honey" or "darling." The main flaw with the second half is that you know you're listening to love songs, but they snooze from a lack of emotional investment.

"Have One On Me" should be absorbed slowly, album by album, letting each song marinate — that, or you risk attention span self-sabotage.