Joanna Newsom’s music has been played incessantly in my flat for the last couple of weeks and as much as her voice can irk me at times, I have been enjoying listenning to her 20-minutes songs a lot.

M. claims she’s a brilliant lyricist but alas, Newsom is one of those singers I can’t seem to understand at all. I guess the explanation lies in the fact that she streches her words along with her melody, which is a damn shame for a french person struggling to comprehend the words behind her tales-sounding efforts.

I have wondered many times about her looks, as I was imagining her as a fairy: long blonde hair and dramatic eyes, pouty lips and pink cheeks reminiscing of a 19th century beauty (or an Emily Bronte’s character). So I googled her this morning and by god, she’s exactly how I picture her to be. Beautiful, and I love her folkish jacket (it might have to do with the fact that I recently became interested in quilt and patchwork art, but that’s another post).

Note - I am very pleased to say that after having written this entry I checked a 2006 Guardian interview of Newsom in which the journalist mentions this:

“Shared secrets and experiences are suggested but never spelt out. Heartbreak is alluded to, and the drift into lovesickness. ‘You came and laid a cold compress on the mess I’m in,’ she whispers. ‘Threw the window wide and cried, amen, amen, amen.’ I can’t help but think of the Brontes here, as the child sisters gaze out their window at ‘mountains kneeling, felten and grey’.”