weekly reading: joanna newsom profile

I always enjoy Slate music critic Jody Rosen’s appearances on the Slate Culture Gabfest podcasts, and I especially liked this profile he wrote for the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago on polarizing indie artist Joanna Newsom. As it happens, I reviewed her new, 3-disc album, Have One on Me, for the March/April issue of M, and found it very hard to wrap my head around. I appreciate Rosen’s critical analysis of both her music itself and the kind of shortcuts critics have taken in their own reads on her artistry. I’m glad I just stumbled on the story this week, as it likely would have colored my own analysis as someone new to her music (though I generally avoid reading other reviews of an album until I’ve finished my own). Nevertheless, the piece has really made me want to revisit the album.