Artist Joanna Newsom

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Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom secured her reputation as a challenging performer on 2006’s Ys, a record that counted as odd even for a musician whose primary instrument is a harp and whose songs frequently break the 10-minute mark. Newsom took her time crafting a follow-up, and 2010’s Have One On Me is arguably too generous in making up for lost time: Its 18 songs stretch over three discs. But where Ys sounded willfully obtuse, Have One On Me is downright conventional (at least moreso than the recent reissue of erstwhile B-side “What We Have Known,” now a single-sided 12-inch with Civil War-themed packaging), with more of an emphasis on clarity and space.

Updated 07/19/2011