Vocalist and harpist Joanna Newsom, raised at the border between California and Nevada, debuted with the self-released EPs Walnut Whales (2002) and Yarn and Glue (2003).
Newsom sings with the shrill and untrained voice of a little child on The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City, 2004), and plucks the harp in a rather casual and haphazard way (the harp is used like a banjo, a contrabass, a dulcimer, a xylophone, etc). The childish games of Bridges and Balloons, Sprout and the Bean can hardly be said to be "sung": they resemble recitals a` la Laurie Anderson or Meredith Monk, sometimes bordering on Larry "Wildman" Fischer's street madness, nursery rhymes and Appalachian folk tunes. Bach must be turning in his grave hearing how she hammers the harpsichord in Peach Plum Pear. Elsewhere, she intones the relatively catchy The Book of Right-On, or embraces a piano for the cabaret number Inflammatory Writ. But the childishness is soon forgotten, as Newsom almost yodels the plaintive and lugubrious This Side of the Blue and the spiritual-like lament Three Little Babes. This is, literally, a new voice, that does not belong to any codified genre of music. She might still be a little afraid of being so unique, and that's the only drawback to an otherwise innovative work.
Walnut Whales is the self-distributed debut EP by Joanna Newsom. It was released on CD-R in 2002. Though the majority of the tracks were re-recorded, with very slightly altered lyrics, for her debut full length album The Milk-Eyed Mender, three of the songs — "Erin", "Flying a Kite", and "The Fray" — are otherwise unreleased. Being a limited edition release it is now unavailable outside of file-sharing networks and second hand exchanges.
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