Itâs not you itâs me. Or maybe itâs both of us.
Itâs sunday and I should be working on a much delayed project, but instead Iâll write something here just to procrastinate a little bit longer.
So this is a sort of goodbye and an explanation why I havenât posted in a while (even though I doubt anyone cares). The main reason : I donât like Newsomâs last album (I think I can confidently say that a few months after its release). Had I liked it, Iâd probably keep on sharing my enthusiasm about her and her music, but now I just canât. Not liking an album of your favorite songwriter shouldnât be a big deal, but Iâm afraid it is for me. Because the admiration I had for her now applies to her past, it also applies to mine ; and because this admiration was a part of my personality, Itâs a little like Iâm a different person now. In a way I feel like Iâve been in this great relationship (a very asymetrical one of course, she doesnât know me), but that thing happened that made realise how far we grew apart.
It would be hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I dislike about Divers. I was mindblown the first times I listened to it. Itâs Newsom, so yes, it is a work of genius : great music, great writing, great arrangements. But even the first times there was a slight unease that I couldnât shake off. So I left it at that for a while, thinking that maybe the unpleasantness was because Divers is loaded with so many earworms that stay with you for days after a listen. But the truth is it never bothered before about any of her albums. So whatâs different with this one? The harmonies are a bit more modern maybe, in a mainstream kind of way, which is not a good way. But HOOM was already a bit like that, and it is my favorite Newsom album, a work of devastating beauty, from the first note to the last. I think what irks me about Divers is how pretty it sounds. I donât like âprettyâ in music, never have, I find that irritating. And I never thought of her music as âprettyâ before. But with Divers the prettiness makes everything else inaudible for me. A good example to try to explain that is the song âDiversâ. Such a disappointment. The first recording of it (by some fellow at some venue) was so promising, I was looking forward to the studio version. But it turns out I feel nothing when I listen to that one. Itâs still the same song, but it doesnât sound authentic. I doesnât speak to me anymore, like itâs coming from another place entirely, one that Iâm not interested in. Itâs not the voice of the poor wife of the diver, itâs just a pretty song tailored for the educated american middle class. Thatâs not the Newsom I like.
I would however save âSame old manâ. That one is a killer, even better than the Karen Dalton version. But sadly itâs the only one she didnât write, and also the only one that sounds like a remnant of her past self (or maybe âThe things I sayâ too, to a lesser extent).
I would also keep the second part of Sapokanikan, one of the most beautful thing she wrote. Too bad the first part of it is so horribly pretty (âdoooooo you looove me?â...ugh.)
Okay thatâs enough for the weird break up letter. So long, wish you all the best.
