Stunner.

We know this is deeply lazy and we're actually completely morally opposed to this, but we were going to attempt a review of Joanna Newsom's album and then we read Kitty Empire's one on the Guardian website and we suddenly realised she'd said everything we wanted to say. So click above. Basically the gist of her article, and our convergent feelings are thus:

• If you thought Joanna couldn't top Ys you were wrong because this is like three Yses all in a row (it's a triple album, see).
  
• Except there's more variation, which is always a good thing.
• There's a progression in sound.
• The tunes and orchestration are still boss but best of all:
• Joanna has managed to develop a singing style that is about 100 times less divisive than her previous one whilst still remaining unmistakeably Newsom.
• This means that if you previously thought she had an un-listenable voice and impenetrable songwriting style, this may be the record for you because:
• Some of the songs are 3 or 4 minutes long.
• Some of the orchestration is sparser and less overwhelming.
• A lot of Joanna's singing is less squeaky.

It's basically a complex, sophisticated, multi layered, feverish masterpiece - so lush, so epic, so well-wrought, so intelligent, so moving it temporarily renders all other music obsolete.