By Matthew Wolfe
Classical musical and indie pop don't share much common ground. Sure, there's occasional intermingling: Sufjan Stevens loves an orchestral arrangement and Sergei Prokofiev knew a catchy folk melody when he heard one, but the high church of classical and the cheap thrills of indie are not just technically dissimilar, but downright suspicious of each other. Enter Joanna Newsom, indie harpist. Coming out of nowhere with 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, Newsom quickly ascended to the tops of the indie world's ranks with her high, almost elfin voice, and lush strings. She brought the classical sense of a pedal harp to the accessibility and intimacy of a singer-songwriter with a taste for the American. Her lyrics traffic in metaphor and fairytale imagery – “Bridges and Balloons,” “Three Little Babes” – but the music tended towards Appalachia and bluegrass. Moving more in her own direction her second album, 2006's Ys, Newsom added a full orchestra under the direction of legendary Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks. As credentialed as indie albums get, Ys was recorded by cantankerous analog enthusiast Steve Albini and mixed by noted experimentalist Jim O'Rourke. The album was rapturously received, placing high on many critics year-end lists and confirming her status as musician with a future. Now, in a spirit of respectful collaboration, Joanna Newsom will be playing two special performances with members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, led by conductor Michael Christie, on January 31 and a sold-out show on February 1 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House. Newsom, in her BAM debut, will be performing her Ys album in full, followed by a set with her band, the Ys Street Band. The Brooklyn Philharmonic, the house orchestra at BAM took on the conductor Michael Christie, a pup in the world of music at 33 years old, as it's musical director two years ago and has undergone an adventurous, wide-ranging slate of programs during his tenure, including a collaboration with the adventurous choreographer Nicholas Leichter and contemporary works from Osvaldo Golijov, Julia Wolfe and Peter Sculthorpe. The willingness to work with artists new and not associated with the classical world has opened the orchestra up to a newer, younger generation of Brooklynites who are drawn into a part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's programming that they are not familiar with. Newsom, for her part, has also opened herself up to a wide range of collaborators. While she is now counted among the indie world's incestuous and prolific experimental-folk scene – an umbrella term for a number of artists who resist easy categorization – the interests of the classically trained harpist branch into many different genres. She has toured and collaborated with artists including Appalachian-style singer-songerwriter Will Oldham, folk group Vetiver, 60s psych-folk throwback Vashti Bunyan and Charles Manson-imitator Devendra Banhart. The show at BAM should attract, like Newsom's music itself, should attract a wide range of fans who appreciate a willingness to experiment and a love of America melody, both classical and folk. Joanna Newsom will be at BAM on January 31 and February 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at bam.org at variable prices. The show will be at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House at 30 Lafayette Avenue, in the Peter Jay Sharp Building. For more information, call 718-634-4100 or go to bam.org.
