To those who can't appreciate Joanna's voice and idiosyncratic composition, this album can be a fiasco even with the foreknowledge of its non-mainstream nature. It's not the kind of album through which you're constantly required to look into every nook and cranny to dig out all its excellence, because it's very conspicuous what's so special about it: the unique melody, the poetic yet beautifully unsettling lyrics. You don't get a unique soul every time you try a folk record, but what's largly likely instead is solely another cliche, but this is by no means the case with Ys. I guess it's an album you'll either like or not. For me, nothing's more appealing than its uniqueness as it simply gets me with its very very very unique melody, which is very telling about the significance of musicality, as it should always be treated more seriously than production, and even lyrics.

Very very very very good. Haunting.

I was living in Reno in November of 2006 when Ys was released, and I immediately recognized, amid the dense allegory and arcane literary references embedded in Joanna Newsom's lyrics, music that is grounded in the Sierra Nevada and Yuba River Valley landscapes in which Newsom was born and raised. Take, for instance, the opening lines to the album's centerpiece, "Emily": "The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow / Set to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport over the pharaoh / A little while later the Pharisees dragged comb through the meadow / Do you remember what they called up to you and me, in our window?" Somehow, in these lyrics, Newsom manages to weave together personal history, geographical and ecological specificity, and Biblical allusions that give the whole experience an ancient, mythical feel. This is creative, ambitious, brilliant stuff--the threads drawn together by an artist still in the early stages of her career. I cannot wait to see what she does in the years and decades to come.

Every single minutiae, from the lyrics to the vocals to the instrumentation, is world-class and the record manages to be both completely beatuiful and otherworldly. A breath of fresh air from the pop landscape, 56 minutes flow by so quickly.

This album is truly a masterpiece in quirky creativity. I love the imagery in her lyrics. There is no effort to spell it out for you in the poetry. Instead, it works beautifully on a subconscious, archetypal level like the imagery in myth and folklore. Her voice encapsulates the quirkiness and whilst it probably detracts a little from delivering the accessibility her music deserves, I don't think it detracts enough to drag the album down too much. Without that enigmatic vocal it would lose its essence. Ultimately, those that can fully embrace her talent in its uniqueness shall gain something that too many will miss out on simply through a petty taste in vocals.

Fantastic idea/definitely original for it's time. I'm glad music like this can still garner respect. It's like the 21st century Hildegard von Bingen. After about 20 minutes though it kind of lost it's magic for me.

The only thing I felt it lacked was some kind of center... it just seemed she rambled about something random the whole time. It was unclear the message of the record/what was being accomplished. It feels almost like jazz in the sense that it was totally made up on the spot... kind of.

YS, is an absolutely stunning record. A beautiful song cycle fusing folk and classical music to form something wholly original and magical. Newsom is captivating throughout, with her quirky vocals and strange lyrics. Every song is a masterpiece, from the excellent opener, Emily, to, monkey and bear(which is probably my favourite track if I had to choose one), and epic, only skin. It's amazing to think that Bob Dylan's extremely derivative and dreary, modern times, managed to pip this breathtakingly original record to most end of year lists as album of the year. YS, is a beautiful piece of work. This is how amazing and inventive music can be.

This a bizarre and somewhat archaic sounding album. It is successful in transcending the mind and making you feel like you are walking through a meadow, wandering in Elizabethan Castles or perhaps some sort of fairy tale. However, I personally feel that these effects remain novel enough to distract you for only fleeting ten minutes. Once I was past the initial pleasant surprise factor, I found the album to be a overly meandering entity. The singing I found grating after a while, she sounds a bit like Kristen Schaal, the instrumentals were nice but not incredible or particularly interesting. The range of instruments used is a big plus point, but, overall I found that this album was a bit a drag to get through.

Either you love it and get swept up in this surreal earthy opera, or you don't. I do.

The brilliance of Joanna Newsom is not a hard sell for me. I've been a constant, unwavering fan since her first widely released album The Milk-Eyed Mender. However, this album to me is her weakest effort, albeit a strong album by any other measure. It doesn't help that her voice is at its most screechy. Now, I can handle that more than most (I wouldn't be an adoring fan if I couldn't). But I also appreciate balance. In fact, look no further than Divers for balance, which synthesizes the best elements of her previous 3 albums, including Ys epic poetry and grandeur.