Have One On Me is winding, long-winded, densely poetic, and often challenging; but never tedious or self-indulgent.
Have One on Me is a very mature work indeed, even its resonant, discursive themes are underpinned by Newsom's usual playfulness.
To devotees ... it sounds very much like a second masterpiece: a different kind of epic to "Ys," and one with enough hooks and charms to ensnare at least a few Newsom agnostics.
Whether being swept up in the delicate instrumentation or contemplating the meanings within, it is, at times, a transcendental experience. Some four years in the making, Have One On Me will continue to reveal aspects of as-yet-undiscovered beauty for that long again.
Have One On Me is so enrapturing, so imaginative and so delicate, that it feels safe to say that in five or ten years time, you’ll go back to it and discover brand new things - whether they be the meaning of a song you’d never fathomed before or a simple amuse-bouche of a beautifully constructed oboe phrase.
The best songs feel more like conversations rather than artworks to be hung on the wall and admired from several paces away. Newsom seems to sing from somewhere deep inside of them, and her earthy presence has a way of drawing you in, bringing you closer to her music than you've been before.
Have One on Me isn't at all a ploy for greater likability. It's an affecting, indulgent, and thoroughly fleshed-out monument to Newsom's considerable ambition.
On her new album, Have One On Me, she lays on a couch in a glamorised setting with peacock feathers, exquisite lamps and animal statues around her. All these items on these covers have their obvious symbolic connotations but as Newsom pointed out in an interview, these items are also not as objective as they may appear.
It’s difficult to imagine another situation in which plinking pixie sounds, recurrent madrigal noises and radiant folk poetry could be categorically described as honking huge, but for all its girth, Have One On Me is packed with magic.
The thing Have One On Me absolutely excels at is the creation of remarkable moments amid its rambling odes.
Were brevity the chiefmost virtue of popular music, “Baby Birch” would be a turgid waste of time, rather than the deft and skillful creature it is. The same sentiment goes for the rest of the album; there is a depth to the material here that rewards — nay, demands — repeated scrutiny.
It’s unlikely that you’ll often listen to it in one bout, but whether beguiled one day by its exotic petals and blooms or the next by the less showy trees in the background, Have One On Me is an Elysian record that you’ll return to again and again.
Grand, long and bold – Newsom makes it sound like the first word she sings here: easy.
Newsom's wispy singing style may still be too inaccessible for some, but hardcore fans will savor the growing vocal confidence during the two-hour-plus running time. In an era of quick musical fixes, Have One on Me is a spacious artistic statement too original to pass up.
Have One On Me’s scope and ambition is as commendable as it is slightly exhausting – it demands you immerse yourself in its world.
Musically, Newsom sounds, relatively speaking, downright conventional on Have One. After the odd, goading arrangements of 2006’s Ys, she seems to have prioritized clarity and space, whether on simple songs for just harp and voice, or more elaborate ones for up to 14 players.
At its best, these songs have the feel of an intimate live performance; at their worst, they’re lovely, but exhausting. Have One on Me is quite a technical achievement, but since Newsom has proven she can do just about anything, next time she shouldn’t try to do everything.
It’s too bad really, that Have One on Me is so overdone because there’s a decent album hidden somewhere in there. It’s an album the Newsom we saw in 2006 would have found, formed, and made shine.
Joanna Newsom’s ‘Have One on me’,
her third studio album produced entirely by herself. Running in at over 120 minutes in length and containing 3 discs of music, it is her longest album to date.
I knew that this would be one of those albums that takes a lot to digest, each lyric has meaning - which meant that I would need to go through the tracks and their meanings extensively because how could I not.
Joanna’s music has really grown on me recently, and she is becoming ... read more
"Damn, Joanna! There's no way you can make a worthy follow-up to Ys unless you, like, record a triple album that's somehow more ambitious in range yet also more accessible in content or something!"
JN: "Hold my drink."
100 followers? Damn, that's quite a lot of people! So, from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to say thanks! Especially to every single user who has made me feel welcomed ever since I joined this site!
And now, I want to talk about Have One On Me, Joanna Newsom’s gigantic triple album. If I were to summarize how I feel every time I listen to this album, it would simply be pure awe. Joanna somehow managed to create an album that matched the ambition of Ys, while also crafting one of the ... read more
Joanna Newsom’s ‘Have One on me’,
her third studio album produced entirely by herself. Running in at over 120 minutes in length and containing 3 discs of music, it is her longest album to date.
I knew that this would be one of those albums that takes a lot to digest, each lyric has meaning - which meant that I would need to go through the tracks and their meanings extensively because how could I not.
Joanna’s music has really grown on me recently, and she is becoming ... read more
meanwhile i will raise my own glass to how you made me fast and expendable, and i will drink to your excellent healt, and your cruelty. will you have one on me?
1 | Easy 6:03 | 96 |
2 | Have One On Me 11:02 | 96 |
3 | '81 3:51 | 93 |
4 | Good Intentions Paving Co. 7:01 | 95 |
5 | No Provenance 6:25 | 92 |
6 | Baby Birch 9:30 | 96 |
1 | On a Good Day 1:48 | 92 |
2 | You and Me, Bess 7:12 | 92 |
3 | In California 8:41 | 96 |
4 | Jackrabbits 4:22 | 90 |
5 | Go Long 8:02 | 96 |
6 | Occident 5:31 | 92 |
1 | Soft As Chalk 6:29 | 93 |
2 | Esme 7:55 | 93 |
3 | Autumn 8:01 | 92 |
4 | Ribbon Bows 6:10 | 89 |
5 | Kingfisher 9:11 | 94 |
6 | Does Not Suffice 6:44 | 96 |
#1 | / | Uncut |
#5 | / | Gorilla vs. Bear |
#7 | / | Pitchfork |
#7 | / | Tiny Mix Tapes |
#10 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#10 | / | Sputnikmusic |
#11 | / | Stereogum |
#12 | / | Under the Radar |
#13 | / | MOJO |
#13 | / | PopMatters |