All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Drowned In Sound

It’s a vivid and beautiful painting that you can walk into; a magic window into another world that I'd be happy to get lost in, and never come back.

Read Full Review >

100

Dusted Magazine

Ys is one of those rare sophomore albums that shatters exceedingly high expectations.

Read Full Review >

100

Observer Music Monthly

Ys is an exceptional piece of art in the broadest sense - give it the chance to grow on you.

Read Full Review >

100

The Guardian

It may well be the most off-putting album released this year. After playing it, there seems every chance it is the also the most astonishing.

Read Full Review >

100

Uncut

For the 56 minutes that "Ys" lasts, all the doubts evaporate. Every elaboration has a purpose, every labyrinthine melodic detour feels necessary rather than contrived. Tempting as it is to fixate on the gilded reputations of her associates, this is unequivocally Newsom’s album.

Read Full Review >

100

PopMatters

For my money, Newsom has demonstrated more nuance, depth of feeling, and originality than a hundred bedazzling pop divas.

Read Full Review >

100

Slant Magazine

The album is a precious--in every sense of the word--masterpiece.

Read Full Review >

Pitchfork

The people who hear this record will split into two crowds: The ones who think it's silly and precious, and the ones who, once they hear it, won't be able to live without it.

Read Full Review >

The Onion (A.V. Club)

For those willing to let go a little and drift, Ys can be an amazing journey, especially when Parks' strings and Newsom's harp lock into a seductive dance, or when her voice catches one of the fleeting snatches of melody and rides it until it escapes.

Read Full Review >

Stylus Magazine

While Ys is ridiculously overwritten, over-performed and self-contained, her fables always sublimate into the hot fog of real emotions just before they calcify.

Read Full Review >

Under The Radar

The full orchestra doesn’t smack of overproduced grandiosity, which is a nice surprise. Less surprising, of course, is the album's incredible lyrical density. [#15]

All Music Guide

Yes, Ys is a demanding listen, but it's also a rewarding and inspiring one.

Read Full Review >

Almost Cool

A knockout of an album.

Read Full Review >

Spin

Throughout the album, Newsom's language is more colorful than on Mender; at its best, it works as music even on the page. [Dec 2006, p.95]

Lost At Sea

Listening to Ys is like dreaming with eyes open, a detached lucidity in which clarity inevitably follows.

Read Full Review >

Mojo

It is Newsom's voice that provides the stunning balm to bind this strange beauty together. [Dec 2006, p.118]

Urb

She surpasses the level of comparatively hook-heavy songwriting set with The Milk-Eyed Mender by evoking a dramatic weight people will still be talking about years down the line. [Nov 2006, p.137]

Prefix Magazine

From the lavish orchestration courtesy of Van Dyke Parks to the richness and sheer abundance of language at Newsom's disposal, Ys is a supreme achievement.

Read Full Review >

ShakingThrough.net

The narrative plot of each song retains the best features of Newsom's previous work, and is gloriously wordy. Here might be the album's one weakness, since it's simply hard to understand a line like "Scrap of sassafras, eh Sisyphus?" when it's set to rhythm, to say nothing of back-and-forth dialogue.

Read Full Review >

Entertainment Weekly

There is still something unsettlingly Renaissance fair-meets-Wind in the Willows about her music, yet something lovely lives there as well. [24 Nov 2006, p.109]

cokemachineglow

If you give it a chance (or maybe even a dozen chances, if you can stand it), and don't immediately dismiss it because it's by Joanna, I’m sure you’ll find something to love.

Read Full Review >

BBC collective

It’s to her great credit that Newsom (literally) plucks artistic triumph from the jaws of cloying whimsy.

Read Full Review >

Tiny Mix Tapes

No album will ever move you quite like it, and if it weren't for a slight misstep, it would be perfect in almost every way.

Read Full Review >

New Musical Express (NME)

Newsom has managed to lessen the twee factor of her last record... in the process crafting an album as bewitching as it is odd.

Read Full Review >

Blender

The emotional peaks are so sharp, the wordplay so juicy, that all excesses are redeemed.

Read Full Review >

Playlouder

She has issued a treasure. She has floored us again.

Read Full Review >

Alternative Press

The beating heart of Newsom's tales, at turns whimsical and melancholic, enchant with a simple calculus: A woman, a harp and a story to tell. [Dec 2006, p.190]

Amazon.com

An album that sounds unlike anything else.

Read Full Review >

Dot Music

In a bid to make a startling epic work, she's concentrated on the form and neglected the content.

Read Full Review >

Q Magazine

Utterly entrancing. [Dec 2006, p.141]

Magnet

While it is technically flawless and masterfully executed, it makes for awkward listening. [#74, p.102]

MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

So much that is sprightly about the debut is subsumed here by ambition, to be kind, and privilege, to be brutally accurate. [Feb/Mar 2007]

Rolling Stone

Hard to stomach. [19 Oct 2006, p.134]

NOW Magazine

Unfortunately, the grand concept appears to have been a bit too ambitious for the 24-year-old Newsom and her associates to pull off, since what she plucks and sings in her little-girl-lost warble never seems entirely integrated with the hovering orchestral parts that sound like bleed-over from a symphony rehearsal in the room next door.

Read Full Review >

Trouser Press

It's like being stuck in the seat next to a chatty, batshit backwoods pixie for an 18-hour plane ride.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 276 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joan S gave it a10:
Magical!! 2006's Masterpiece! Too bad some people just can see it, thank god critics and the big majority saw what i saw and what i felt! Ys is pure magic! Just give it a try! If you can't see how unique her voice, her harp, her lyrics, her music it's your problem. This days people just want easy music, the hooks! She's so much more than that. It's not because you like tori amos or kate bush that means you will like it. Joanna Newsom is unique and she's an acquired taste, you love or hate it. I ADORE!

Eusebio P. gave it a3:
A girl playing harp short of OK and singing (out of tune half of the time) painfully long diatribes... Is this an 85 score? By Tutatis that you people across the ocean sometimes amaze me... I can imagine that most of the people giving a high score to this have never ever listen to any decent folk, Celtic or world music, so coming from Alternative Pop-Rock this can be short of a revelation of difference, but believe me, it is not. If you want to hear something decent on "women playing harp", please make yourself a favor and buy something of Loreena McKennitt.

Analogue Sound gave it a10:
An absolute masterpiece in the history of Music. Obviously, if people find it difficult to understand, it's not a blame of these works.

Steve P. gave it a10:
Even now, 2½ years on from its release, this album stands head and shoulders above anything else of the last 40 years: it has such complexity and is so finely crafted, but it is presented in an accessible, alluring manner. No other album offers so many different nuances that no matter how many times I hear it, there's always a new facet to enjoy.

Ian gave it a4:
Joanna Newsom, as well as other artists from the recent 'New Weird America' movement, are not so unique as they are a reemergence of pretentious white person 70's folk. Boo.

Alex P. gave it a10:
When I first listened to this album, I was confused. I liked the harp and doubly so the orchestral overtones, but found the songs rambly and actively disliked her voice. I was somewhat intrigued, but also rather offput. After giving it a long rest, I came back and listened to the song Emily, which for some reason decided to grab me and cling on for dear life. I found myself humming snippets of tune in the shower. The more I listened to it, the more I realized how much nuance there is in this music, and what seemed rambly before was actually a fully populated world of sound filled with interesting audio minutia. Eventually, I got used to the voice, and the other songs on this album grew on me, with the exception of Cosmia, which is the only misstep on the entire album. Now, after many listens, I believe that this album is simply brilliant and I can't remember the last time something held my attention for so many listens (maybe System of a Down's Mesmerize/Hypnotize). You will either love it, or you will hate it, and there's really no in between. And for those of you who can't get past the voice, you are missing something truly wonderful here.

Kate M gave it a10:
I got this on the basis of the fantastic reviews. When I first put it on, I went 'what the hell', and hated it. I came back and listened to it later, and little bits and pieces struck out- mostly the music, but some of the lyrics too. Now I love it. This is a record that rewards repeated listening. I'm still not crazy about some of the lyrics, but her love of language is obvious and some of the lines are beautiful.

Music

Upcoming &Recent Releases

Ys

Album Info

Summary

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

Upcoming &
Recent Releases