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Joanna Newsom

Indie / Folk / Acoustic

Ys

About

Ys (IPA pronunciation: [i:s]) is the second album by Joanna Newsom. It is the follow up to The Milk-Eyed Mender and was released by Drag City on November 14, 2006 (see 2006 in music). The album shares a name with a mythical city in Brittany.

The album features a full orchestra on four out of five tracks, with arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, who also plays the accordion. Newsom's harp and vocals were recorded by Steve Albini and the orchestra was recorded by Tim Boyle. Newsom and Parks produced the album and it was mixed by Jim O'Rourke. The recording process was completely analog, the music mixed to tape and mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

Bass guitar is contributed by Lee Sklar, and electric guitar by jazz guitarist Grant Geissman. Don Heffington played percussion and Matt Cartsonis played mandolin and banjo. Bill Callahan of Smog provides backing vocals on the song "Only Skin", while on "Emily" these are sung by Joanna's sister Emily Newsom, for whom the song was named.

The album leaked onto the internet over two months in advance of its release when it was left unprotected on servers belonging to music criticism website Pitchfork Media.

Since its release on November 14, Ys has received widespread critical acclaim, earning a score of 9.4 out of 10 from Pitchfork Media and being ranked at #3 in their Top 50 Albums of 2006. It currently has a score of 88 out of 100 and is 5th highest scoring album of 2006 on Metacritic. It was named #6 on Time Magazine's list of 10 Best Albums of 2006.

The track "Emily" was ranked #9 in Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Tracks 2006. Metacritic ranked the album at #5 in its Best Albums of 2006 chart, while Tiny Mix Tapes ranked it #1 on the Top 25 Albums of 2006. The album entered the Irish Album Chart at #50.

* All Music Guide 4.5/5 stars
* Almost Cool (9/10)
* The A.V. Club (A-)
* Dusted Magazine (10/10)
* Drowned in Sound (10/10)
* The Guardian 5/5 stars
* The Independent 4/5 stars
* Mojo (9/10)
* musicOMH.com 5/5 stars
* The Observer 5/5 stars
* Pitchfork Media (9.4/10)
* PopMatters (10/10)
* Prefix (9/10)
* Slant Magazine 5/5 stars
* Spin Magazine (9/10)
* Stylus Magazine (A-)
* The Telegraph (favorable)
* The Times 5/5 stars
* Tiny Mix Tapes 4/5 stars
* Twisted Ear 5/5 stars
* Uncut 5/5 stars
* Under the Radar (9/10)
* Urb (9/10)

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