Divers
by Joanna Newsom
User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 157 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 131 out of 157
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 157
  3. Negative: 16 out of 157
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  1. Yoshi90
    Oct 23, 2015
    10
    Each listen uncovers further depth: the musical, lyrical, narrative and thematic connections and interactions between the eleven songs of Divers are a testament to its intricacy and the extraordinary vision of its creator. Together, these songs form a self-contained world of joy and despair, where each of the album's darker themes (mortality, loss, and time itself figure prominently on theEach listen uncovers further depth: the musical, lyrical, narrative and thematic connections and interactions between the eleven songs of Divers are a testament to its intricacy and the extraordinary vision of its creator. Together, these songs form a self-contained world of joy and despair, where each of the album's darker themes (mortality, loss, and time itself figure prominently on the record) is perfectly counterbalanced against strength, courage and love. It's the sort of world you wouldn't mind getting lost in and ending up staying awhile- many will. With this masterpiece of a concept album, Joanna Newsom has further cemented her place as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our -or any- time.… Expand
  2. idrisguitar
    Oct 23, 2015
    10
    Divers is just another pristine and beautiful example of Joanna's unmatched songwriting skills. Compositionally diverse and deep, leaving layers to uncover listen after listen. Lyrically poetic, and by poetic I mean, work that stands up to the great poets of our time. And finally Melodically....There is simply no other musician working today that is creating music this evocative and heartDivers is just another pristine and beautiful example of Joanna's unmatched songwriting skills. Compositionally diverse and deep, leaving layers to uncover listen after listen. Lyrically poetic, and by poetic I mean, work that stands up to the great poets of our time. And finally Melodically....There is simply no other musician working today that is creating music this evocative and heart rending. Another Masterpiece.… Expand
  3. michaeln
    Oct 23, 2015
    10
    I have been a Joanna Newsom fan since her first album, "The Milk-Eyed Mender," which still has my favorite Joanna song to date: "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie." I don't say that to brag. It's more of a disclaimer. Basically I'm warning you that I liked her even when she used to really screech.

    I love "Divers." It's a great album by any metric. Lyrically. Melodically. Personality. It has it    I have been a Joanna Newsom fan since her first album, "The Milk-Eyed Mender," which still has my favorite Joanna song to date: "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie." I don't say that to brag. It's more of a disclaimer. Basically I'm warning you that I liked her even when she used to really screech.

    I love "Divers." It's a great album by any metric. Lyrically. Melodically. Personality. It has it all.

    "Divers" is more like "Ys" than her other two albums. The production quality is terrific. The many layers of sounds work. It's easy to get caught in the emotion of the album and let yourself join Newsom on her journey.

    I didn't like "Have One On Me" nearly as much as this album. HOOM was just too long. It intimidated me. It still does. Maybe one day I'll be able to access it.

    If you're a Newsom fan then you should definitely get this album.

    My favorite two tracks are "The Things I Say" and "Goose Eggs." Start with those if you aren't sure about buying the whole record.    … Expand
  4. WeAreOne
    Nov 4, 2015
    9
    Excellent album, with just enough fairy dust to carry you to Neverland! Perhaps not the most musically original, but it is a powerful lyrical study of time, birth, life, and death.
  5. Custom_Concerns
    Nov 12, 2015
    8
    Joanna Newsom has delivered another extremely solid set of tracks with lush instrumentation, uniquely emotional vocals, and complex lyrics, transporting the listener to another world entirely. Divers is more accessible than the rest of her work, but this does not dilute the overall experience. The album is just as ethereal, just as otherworldly as the rest of her work. A couple tracks areJoanna Newsom has delivered another extremely solid set of tracks with lush instrumentation, uniquely emotional vocals, and complex lyrics, transporting the listener to another world entirely. Divers is more accessible than the rest of her work, but this does not dilute the overall experience. The album is just as ethereal, just as otherworldly as the rest of her work. A couple tracks are not quite as powerful as the rest, and the album falters a bit near the end, but Divers is still a top 10 record for 2015.… Expand
  6. leobra12
    Jan 18, 2016
    10
    Brillint album from one of the best songwriters and musicians of our time. Joanna is always impressing with her beautiful melodies, lyrics and touching songs
  7. lucassm
    Jan 18, 2016
    10
    Beautiful, touching, deep and incredible well written. Joanna never dissapoints, she is always showing amazing materials since her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender. But the most important, she always is reinventing herself, none of her albums look alike
  8. JasonViljoen97
    Oct 23, 2015
    10
    Joanna Newsom is becoming repetitive - she has released yet another masterpiece. Divers is an exceptional piece of art. A deep exploration of time, love and what connects the two. It's not as challenging as Have One On Me, nor as approachable as The Milk-Eyed Mender. She has found a middle ground. It's a record where you don't have to delve so deep to find the diamond. The instrumentationJoanna Newsom is becoming repetitive - she has released yet another masterpiece. Divers is an exceptional piece of art. A deep exploration of time, love and what connects the two. It's not as challenging as Have One On Me, nor as approachable as The Milk-Eyed Mender. She has found a middle ground. It's a record where you don't have to delve so deep to find the diamond. The instrumentation is her most experimental to date, and she has done something I have never heard before on an album - echoing melodies throughout the entire album - a brilliant innovation. I applaud this woman.… Expand
  9. tbone07
    Oct 23, 2015
    10
    Reminds me of Kate Bush's 'The Dreaming'. This album, more so than her previous albums, grabs you and shakes you. It is experimental and while the songs seem to have such decidedly seperate sounds they are connected thematically, yet again, more so than her previous albums IMO. Not for better or for worse. I absolutely love Divers. Thank you, Joanna Newsom.
  10. LucasJura
    Dec 27, 2015
    10
    Listening to this song reminds me almost of her album, "walnut whales" hearing this, and than, peach plum pear, for example, is like reading a story backwards. We can listen to her voice develop and we know exactly where she's going, and exactly how she's changing. These two albums are Beautiful, and undoubtedly transcendental at different extremes. In Walnut Whales she looks at love,Listening to this song reminds me almost of her album, "walnut whales" hearing this, and than, peach plum pear, for example, is like reading a story backwards. We can listen to her voice develop and we know exactly where she's going, and exactly how she's changing. These two albums are Beautiful, and undoubtedly transcendental at different extremes. In Walnut Whales she looks at love, nature, and life with the same curious spark as a child discovering the world. And in "Divers" she is like a woman, who knows all she needs to, but still hungers for knowledge. This is why I think she visits some of the same themes that she does in her earlier albums. Like how we could listen to the same songs for years and find them just as beautiful, she could rediscover her child-like curiosity with the same excitement as she had in Walnut Whales. I'm in the middle of my fourteenth year on this earth, my ninth year conscious and my second year listening to Joanna Newsom. She has given me hope for my future, I don't care if it sounds dramatic, I believe it just as I do her lyrics. I see how she's grown, I've seen her power and her poetry, and it gives me hope.… Expand
  11. Tom_Bombadil
    Sep 21, 2016
    7
    Joanna Newson never wrote the most solid albums ever, and this one isn't the exception. After track 4 all the momentum is lost and Joanna proceeds to deliver sketches of songs (and not proper songs) until more or less halfway through the final track. But the first four songs (and the first two in particular) are reminders of why we love this girl. How melodically sophisticated her musicJoanna Newson never wrote the most solid albums ever, and this one isn't the exception. After track 4 all the momentum is lost and Joanna proceeds to deliver sketches of songs (and not proper songs) until more or less halfway through the final track. But the first four songs (and the first two in particular) are reminders of why we love this girl. How melodically sophisticated her music is, how delicately every single instrument is played and recorded, and how thoughtful her lyrical imagery can be. There's a moment around the 4:45 minute mark in "Anecdotes", just after the whole blaze of lush orchestral instrumentation yields from the spotlight, in which Joanna comes back to the song's original melody and sings the words "Where you will not mark my leaving/and you will not hear my parting song" like if her voice was about to break into weeping. But she's strong, and she carries on singing now on a higher register, sending a beautiful message to a soldier's daughter. This is sad, sad music. And yet there's a lot of insistence to it. It's Joanna delivering her talent to this world, a talent we need so much right now.… Expand
  12. ReubenIsAGod
    Dec 29, 2015
    9
    I love Joanna Newsom, and her new Album is just magical. every track is full of personality and delight as each track unfolds into this wonder and awe from a musical, lyrical and narrative standpoint. Go buy it, if u go to the website u can get a really coolbeanz*reference* Cassette version of the album.
  13. longjetty7
    Jan 8, 2019
    8
    It took several listens to really get into this album, as with any Joanna Newsom album, but I'm glad I invested the time because Divers is a real treat. It's beautifully arranged and beautifully sung. This is probably her best album in terms of what I'd be in the mood to listen to the most.

    Standout tracks: Waltz of the 101st Lightborne, A Pin-Light Bent
  14. mrlucbra
    Jan 16, 2016
    10
    Joanna seems to never dissapoint her fans. Divers is another masterpiece from one of the best lyricists of our generation. She continues to tell tales that never seem boring to me. I am always here to listen to what this incredible artist has to say
  15. joethealien
    Jul 30, 2017
    10
    Divers is my favorite Joanna album to date. her lyricism is unparalleled, her orchestration is eternally breathtaking, her voice so powerful in its intricacy. check out Anecdotes, Sapokanikan, Waltz of the 101st Lightborne, The Things I Say and Time, As a Symptom if you wanna be truly blown away
  16. CamdenRendell
    Jan 29, 2018
    9
    I was highly anticipating the release of Joanna Newsom's next album, and my expectations were more than fulfilled. Another great one!
  17. All_ButTrU4
    Nov 29, 2021
    8
    Joanna Newsom’s fourth full-length, Divers, haunts you like an unanswered question. That’s what makes it so engrossing. You don’t listen to it to figure out what it means. You play it to revel in the mystery of the songs and who, exactly, is the marvelous, mercurial creature singing them.

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best Album of 2015
52
#52 Most Discussed Album of 2015
25
#25 Most Shared Album of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Universal acclaim - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Dusted Magazine
    Nov 9, 2015
    80
    Newsom is, obviously, not the first musician to get technically better at what she does while we’re looking on, and not the first, either, to elicit a twinge of regret from listeners who liked the rawer, wilder beginnings.... Divers hides its sting not in an unusual voice, but in its lyrical and musical complexity, and it’s a good trade after all.
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  2. Record Collector
    Nov 6, 2015
    100
    Divers is another meticulous masterpiece from one of the songwriters of her time, an album that’ll still be spellbinding generations from now.
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  3. Pretty Much Amazing
    Nov 5, 2015
    83
    Divers takes another logical step, tightening up from the sprawling consistency of Have One on Me without quite tightening up enough to return to Mender’s folk-pop. This is easily Newsom’s most sumptuously arranged album, with a more eclectic palette of instruments than she’s previously employed.
    Read full review
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