Joanna Newsom Ys

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys rewards patience, and the best tracks on Ys - particularly “Cosmia”, “Only Skin”, and “Emily” - show why. The reviewer's prose revels in how “Cosmia” yields that climactic moment where harp, voice and strings collide, calling it perhaps the author's favorite of her career. Likewise, “Only Skin” is praised for a climax that pairs high harmonies with booming baritone vocals to stunning effect. Even quieter pieces like “Emily” and “Sawdust & Diamonds” get singled out for putting Newsom's voice front and center, which is key to why these are often cited as the best songs on Ys.

Key Points

• The best song is "Cosmia" for its climactic harp, vocal interplay, and soaring strings that the reviewer calls perhaps their favorite.
• The album's core strengths are ambitious orchestral arrangements, virtuoso harp playing, and distinctive, emotive vocals across epic song structures.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys is that rare record that feels like a recovered myth, and the best tracks on Ys are led by “Emily” which the reviewer calls dizzying and adrenalizing. The prose insists that “Emily” is powerful enough to set your nerves on fire, a centerpiece of the album's autobiographical myths. Across the five extended pieces the string arrangements and harp weave around songs like “Emily”, making it clear why listeners search for the best songs on Ys and name “Emily” among them. The voice of the review stays reverent and awed, presenting the album's strengths as storytelling, arrangement and emotional magnitude.

Key Points

• The best song is “Emily” because the reviewer describes it as dizzying, adrenalizing and emotionally overpowering.
• The album's core strengths are its mythic storytelling, intricate string arrangements, and Joanna Newsom's deep, resonant voice.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom’s Ys feels like a deliberate fairy tale, and the best tracks — notably “Monkey & Bear” and “Only Skin” — are where that fablery becomes heartbreaking and operatic. The review insists that “Monkey & Bear” is a haunting fable, and it is this fable quality that makes it one of the best songs on Ys. Meanwhile “Only Skin” stretches into an epic duet and functions as the album’s centerpiece, a sustained, convincing argument for Newsom’s ambition and voice. The record’s orchestral backing and literate lyrics render these tracks both singular and the clearest answers to the question of best tracks on Ys.

Key Points

• The album's core strengths are its operatic orchestral arrangements, literate lyrics, and Newsom's idiosyncratic voice.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys astonishes with its scope and imagination, and the reviewer's voice hangs on the long, narrative songs that reveal hidden layers. She singles out “Emily” as a dedicated, strange and beautiful musical fable, and “Monkey & Bear” as a parable about emancipation, both serving as the best tracks on Ys for their emotional clarity and narrative ambition. The writing evokes medieval tapestries and Holbein-esque design, and the album's orchestral fleshing-out makes these harp-led epics feel vast rather than quaint. Recommended: “Emily” and “Monkey & Bear”.

Key Points

• The best song, “Emily”, stands out for its dedication, harmonies and fable-like narrative.
• The album's core strengths are its originality, medieval lyrical imagery and orchestral expansion of harp-led songs.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys reads like a daring reintroduction, and the best songs on Ys are those that turn her ambition into narrative spectacle. “Monkey & Bear” is one of the best tracks on Ys, a darkly whimsical fable with some of the album's liveliest arrangements and storytelling. Equally striking, “Sawdust & Diamonds” stands out for its surreally sensual tone and surprisingly direct lyrics, making it a top song and a centerpiece of the record's dramatic sweep. The closer “Cosmia” crystallizes the lavish orchestration that makes Ys feel epic and demanding, and these moments show why listeners ask about the best songs on Ys again and again.

Key Points

• The best song, "Monkey & Bear," is best for its darkly whimsical storytelling and lively arrangements.
• The album's core strengths are ambitious orchestration, dense lyricism, and Newsom's developed, nuanced vocal control.

Themes

Critic's Take

In typically exacting prose Alexis Petridis frames Joanna Newsom's Ys as a hard sell that rewards persistence, and he singles out “Emily” and “Only Skin” as vivid high points. He praises the songs as "richly melodic" and marvels at Parks' orchestrations underpinning “Emily” as it shifts from brooding to gleeful to sinister, while “Only Skin” is celebrated for language that beguiles even when its meaning is elusive. This is a review that positions the best tracks on Ys as both daring and irresistible, arguing the album may be the year's most astonishing musical investment. The tone remains admiring and analytical, insisting that the dense lyrics and unexpected arrangements make these songs the best tracks on Ys rather than obstacles.

Key Points

• The best song, especially “Only Skin”, mesmerizes through dense, mysterious lyrics and an unexpectedly moving denouement.
• The album's core strengths are richly melodic songwriting, inventive orchestration, and language that bewitches despite its difficulty.

Themes

Critic's Take

John Mulvey writes with awed intensity about Joanna Newsom and Ys, singling out “Emily” and “Only Skin” as towering achievements. He dwells on their scale and drama, describing the end of “Emily” as sombre and meditative and the 13½-minute passage in “Only Skin” as extraordinary, with multitracked vocals and a seasick roll. The narrative insists these are intensely personal songs, lavishly arranged yet unequivocally Newsom’s, which explains why listeners ask, what are the best songs on Ys? In this voice, the best tracks on Ys are the ones that reveal new highlights with every listen, with “Emily” and “Only Skin” emerging as the album’s emotional peaks.

Key Points

• The best song is best because it combines scale, personal lyricism and a dramatic orchestral peak that rewards repeated listens.
• The album’s core strengths are its ambitious arrangements, vivid nature imagery and intensely personal songwriting.

Themes

Critic's Take

This review does not discuss the best songs on Ys by Joanna Newsom. Because the provided review text contains a year-end list and many album entries but does not mention any tracks from Ys, there are no reviewer-backed best tracks to highlight.

Key Points

• The review text contains no discussion of individual tracks from Ys, so no best song can be identified here.
• The source praises many albums generally but provides no evidence about Ys or its strengths.

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys feels like a brilliant excavation of feeling, and the best tracks - “Monkey & Bear”, “Only Skin”, and “Sawdust & Diamonds” - show why. He singles out “Only Skin” as the most modern, Kate Bush-like moment, and calls the centerpiece “Sawdust & Diamonds” an exhilarating rhapsody where her heart races and does not stop. The review argues these best songs reward repeated listens, offering dense, well-mapped beauty rather than pop hooks.

Key Points

• The best song, especially "Sawdust & Diamonds", is the album's emotional centerpiece because it unleashes an exhilarating, rapturous performance.
• The album's core strengths are dense, narrative lyricism and orchestral arrangements that reward repeated listening rather than immediate pop hooks.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom sounds fully committed on Ys, and the best tracks - especially “Emily” and “Monkey & Bear” - show why. The record reads like a spellbinding tone poem, with “Emily” swelling with strings into moments of amazement and “Monkey & Bear” supplying an unsettling minor-key melancholy. Newsom luxuriates in the imperfections of her voice and, joined by Van Dyke Parks' orchestral sweep, pushes her songs to emotional extremes that make these tracks the standout best songs on Ys.

Key Points

• “Emily” is the best song for its swelling strings and vividly memorable lines.
• The album's core strengths are ambitious orchestration, committed performance, and literary, transportive lyrics.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys feels like a triumph of imagination, where scope and scale matter as much as songcraft. The reviewer repeatedly points to the album's five "lengthy narrative gems" as its core strengths, singling out the textured, vibrant tracks such as “Emily” and “Only Skin” for their lyrical colour and drama. There is a persistent sense of baroque, gothic and medieval terrain that Newsom navigates confidently, and the record's elaboration of sound makes clear why people search for the best tracks on Ys. Overall the tone is admiring and almost awed, celebrating these songs as brave, unique and utterly magical affairs.

Key Points

• The best song(s) are part of the album's five lengthy narrative gems because they showcase textured, vibrant songwriting.
• The album's core strengths are its expansive arrangements, lyrical colour, and dramatic vocal emphasis.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys reads like a set of adult fairy tales, songs so luxuriant you can feel the strings breathe, and the best tracks - notably “Emily” and “Only Skin” - embody that beguiling, ornate ambition. The reviewer delights in the album's willingness to use 12 violins when one will do, and praises the record's lush orchestral soundscapes that make the best songs on Ys places to lose yourself. There is also a sly note about Newsom having lessened the twee factor from before, which makes “Emily” and “Only Skin” feel both bewitching and oddly adult. Read as winter listening, these standout tracks show why Ys feels unlike anything else right now.

Key Points

• The best song(s) stand out for their lavish orchestration and visionary songwriting, making them immersive listens.
• The album's core strengths are its ornate string arrangements, ambitious long-form songwriting, and unique fairy-tale voice.

Themes

Critic's Take

Joanna Newsom's Ys repels and rewards in equal measure, a record that insists you give it time and attention before judgement. Brown's voice is caustic then conciliatory, calling the songs teeth-grinding yet conceding that repeated listens reveal "dozen little epiphanic moments". The best tracks on Ys are presented as long, unfolding stories - tracks like “Only Skin” and “Emily” are framed as demanding centerpiece pieces that repay concentration. If you search for the best songs on Ys, the review argues they are those patient, expansive works that unspool emotional authenticity across many listens.

Key Points

• The best song(s) are the long, demanding tracks like "Only Skin" that unfold and reward repeated listens.
• Ys's core strength is complex orchestration and emotional authenticity that reveal new details on concentrated, solitary listening.

Themes