The New Joanna Newsom Album Is...

Judging by the first two songs, it seems pretty crappy, actually. String arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, produced by Jim O'Rourke, recorded by Steve Albini... Sounds like it might be a good idea, but then I actually heard the music. It might as well be Rick Wakeman's The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, except that it's not funny, and there will probably not be a dramatized version of it done on ice. I fell asleep listening to it, and when the first two songs that I had downloaded were done (both of them being longer than 10 minutes) I was actually very very happy to hear the next song on the playlist, which happened to be "Thank U" by Alanis Morissette (did you know that song is talking about Dave Coulier?). Joanna Newsom's music (which I have liked in the past) made Alanis sound like a musical genius. Something is wrong here.

Maybe this album cover should have been my first clue: