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Divers (album)

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Divers
Studio album by
Joanna Newsom
ReleasedOctober 23, 2015 (2015-10-23)
Genre
Length51:52
LabelDrag City
Producer
Joanna Newsom chronology
Have One on Me
(2010) 		Divers
(2015)
Singles from Divers
  1. "Sapokanikan"
    Released: August 10, 2015
  2. "Leaving the City"
    Released: September 20, 2015

Divers is the fourth studio album by American musician Joanna Newsom, released on October 23, 2015 via Drag City.[4]

The album was revealed on August 10, 2015, along with its first song, "Sapokanikan", which was released digitally as the first single.[5] The cover art, album packaging, and music video for the album's title track feature the work of artist Kim Keever. The music video was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson with whom Newsom worked for the film Inherent Vice.[6][7]

Speaking about the album's creative process in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she said "I ... spent a year or two on the instrumental arrangements and overdubs. I wanted the character and colors of the instrumentation to shift definitively, from song to song, which entailed a wide pool of collaborators and a lengthy collaborative process with each person." She further described the process of making the album as "probably the most fun I’ve had making a record".[8] Entertainment Weekly also reported Newsom "as using an arsenal of nearly a dozen keyboards and synths including clavichords, Mellotrons and Marxophones" for the album while members of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra feature as players on the album.[9]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.6/10[10]
Metacritic88/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
The A.V. ClubB+[13]
The Daily Telegraph[14]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[15]
The Guardian[16]
The Independent[17]
NME4/5[18]
Pitchfork8.5/10[19]
Rolling Stone[20]
Spin8/10[1]

Divers received widespread critical acclaim, achieving an aggregate score of 88 on Metacritic based upon 33 reviews.[11] It receives a similarly high score of 8.6 on AnyDecentMusic?, with the collated scores of thirty-five reviews.[10] Critics praised the complexity of Newsom's lyrics and arrangements, while noting that the record is more accessible and compact than previous releases. In a positive review for Exclaim!, Stephen Carlick wrote that "Divers feels like the culmination of all of Newsom's incredible work over the past decade. It's the sound of an artist operating at the peak of her powers, employing all her greatest strengths at once to create an assured, moving work that corroborates what Have One On Me already suggested: that Joanna Newsom is one of the finest songwriters of this generation."[21] Another positive review, by Ben Ratliff in The New York Times, described, "Almost nothing in the way this music is composed, produced (by Ms. Newsom and Noah Georgeson) or recorded (by Steve Albini and Mr. Georgeson) seems incidental or accidental. You almost want to hold the whole thing still, flatten it out and study it."[22]

Pitchfork awarded the album the 'Best New Music' tag, and stated that "on her fourth album, Divers, Joanna Newsom comes down in size if not scope". They go on to describe the record as "a love letter in the form of a reckoning with death, Divers deals with making tangible the huge mass of impending doom about the loss of love. You know, the small stuff. It's a gorgeous record, full of her usual harp wilyness and baroque rhythms".[19]

James Skinner, writing for Drowned in Sound, concluded by saying that the record is, "Conveyed with sincerity, warmth and the musicianship and love of language and storytelling that sets - has always set - Joanna Newsom apart, Divers is a colossal achievement."[23] Skinner awarded the album full marks. The Skinny also gave the record a perfect score, saying that after listening to the record, "It'll be hard not to conclude that this is surely one of the albums of the year".[24]

Accolades

[edit]
Accolades for Divers
Publication Accolade Year Rank
Drowned in Sound Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of the Year 2015 2015
7[25]
Exclaim! Exclaim!'s Top 10 Folk & Country Albums 2015 2015
2[26]
Flood Magazine Flood's Best of 2015 2015
9[27]
The Guardian The Best Albums of 2015 2015
10[28]
Magnet Magnet's Top 25 Albums of 2015 2015
6[29]
musicOMH musicOMH's Top 50 Albums of 2015 2015
4[30]
NME NME's Albums of the Year 2015 2015
17[31]
No Ripcord Top Albums of 2015 2015
8[32]
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015
13[33]
Readers' Top 50 Albums 2015
10[34]
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015
22[35]
The Wire Releases of the Year 1–50 2015
14[36]

Commercial performance

[edit]

Newsom achieved her first No. 1 on Billboard's Alternative Albums chart with the album, which sold 14,000 units in its first week. It marked Newsom's best career sales week, topping the first week sales of 2006's Ys, which sold 9,000. Divers also debuted at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart, with 3,000 LPs sold.[37]

Track listing

[edit]

The track listing was officially announced by Drag City on August 10, 2015.[38]

All songs written by Joanna Newsom, except "Same Old Man" (traditional).

No.TitleLength
1."Anecdotes"6:27
2."Sapokanikan"5:11
3."Leaving the City"3:48
4."Goose Eggs"5:01
5."Waltz of the 101st Lightborne"5:22
6."The Things I Say"2:35
7."Divers"7:07
8."Same Old Man"2:26
9."You Will Not Take My Heart Alive"4:01
10."A Pin-Light Bent"4:26
11."Time, as a Symptom"5:28
Total length:51:52

Personnel

[edit]

Performance

[edit]

Production

[edit]
  • Joanna Newsom – producer, songwriter, harp, piano, keyboard and vocal arrangements
  • Steve Albini – engineer
  • Ryan Francesconi – arrangements, conductor
  • Noah Georgeson – engineer, producer and mixing
  • John Golden – mastering
  • Kim Keever – cover art
  • Samur Khouja – engineer
  • Annabel Mehran – photographer
  • Paul Thomas Anderson – photographer
  • Nico Muhly – orchestral arrangements on "Anecdotes"
  • David Longstreth – orchestral arrangements on "Time, As a Symptom"
  • Ryan Francesconi – additional arrangements
  • Dan Cantrell – additional arrangements
  • Noah Georgeson – additional arrangements
  • Kevin Barker – additional arrangements
  • Neal Morgan – drum and percussion arrangements
  • Peter Newsom – drum and percussion arrangements
  • Dan Osborn – layout designer
  • Justin Rice – engineer
  • Sadaharu Yagi – engineer

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Divers
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[39] 63
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[40] 30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[41] 25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[42] 70
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[43] 81
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[44] 14
French Albums (SNEP)[45] 168
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[46] 22
Irish Albums (IRMA)[47] 8
Italian Albums (FIMI)[48] 93
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[49] 26
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[50] 91
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[51] 56
UK Albums (OCC)[52] 10
US Billboard 200[53] 30
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[54] 1
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[55] 1
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[56] 2

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Sackllah, David (October 26, 2015). "Review: Joanna Newsom Doesn't Need a Triple Lindy to Make a Splash on 'Divers'". Spin. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  2. ^ Bollinger, Nick (November 17, 2015). "Divers by Joanna Newsom". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  3. ^ "Joanna Newsom: Divers Review". Rawckus. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  4. ^ "Joanna Newsom Announces New Album Divers". Pitchfork. 10 August 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  5. ^ "Joanna Newsom "Sapokanikan" (Official Video) - YouTube". Retrieved August 10, 2015 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ "Joanna Newsom Returns (With Paul Thomas Anderson)". ArtInfo. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  7. ^ "Joanna Newsom Announces North American Tour, Will Screen Paul Thomas Anderson-Directed "Divers" Video in Movie Theaters". Pitchfork. 6 October 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  8. ^ "Joanna Newsom Interview". Entertainment Weekly. September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  9. ^ "Press Release" (PDF). September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Divers by Joanna Newsom reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Reviews for Divers by Joanna Newsom". Metacritic. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  12. ^ Phares, Heather. "Divers – Joanna Newsom". AllMusic. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  13. ^ Reiff, Corbin (October 23, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  14. ^ Brown, Helen (October 27, 2015). "Joanna Newsom, Divers, review: 'a magic carpet ride'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  15. ^ Maerz, Melissa (October 21, 2015). "Joanna Newsom is marvelous and mercurial on new album Divers: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  16. ^ Petridis, Alexis (October 22, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers review – deeply idiosyncratic, straightforwardly striking". The Guardian. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  17. ^ Gill, Andy (October 23, 2015). "Joanna Newsom, Divers – album review: A dazzling imagination takes wing on a richly diverse comeback". The Independent. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  18. ^ Monroe, Jazz (October 16, 2015). "Joanna Newsom – 'Divers'". NME. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  19. ^ a b Snapes, Laura (October 19, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  20. ^ Hermes, Will (October 20, 2015). "Divers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  21. ^ Carlick, Stephen (October 20, 2015). "Joanna Newsom – Divers". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  22. ^ Ratliff, Ben (2015-10-21). "Review: Joanna Newsom's 'Divers' Shares Thoughts of Life and Death". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  23. ^ "Album Review: Joanna Newsom - Divers / Releases / Releases // Drowned in Sound". Archived from the original on 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  24. ^ "Joanna Newsom: Divers - New album review - the Skinny".
  25. ^ "Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of the Year 2015". Drowned in Sound. December 17, 2015. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  26. ^ "Exclaim!'s Top 10 Folk & Country Albums 2015". Exclaim!. December 4, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  27. ^ "FLOOD's Best of 2015: Music (#25–5)". FLOOD Magazine. December 7, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  28. ^ "The Best Albums of 2015". The Guardian. December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  29. ^ "BEST OF 2015". Magnet Magazine. December 18, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  30. ^ "musicOMH's Top 50 Albums Of 2015". musicOMH. December 18, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  31. ^ "NME'S Albums of the Year 2015". NME. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  32. ^ "Top Albums of 2015". No Ripcord. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  33. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  34. ^ "Readers' Poll Results 2015". Pitchfork. January 5, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  35. ^ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". Stereogum. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  36. ^ "2015 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50". The Wire. No. 383. London. January 2016. p. 32 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required)
  37. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (November 4, 2015). "Joanna Newsom Makes a Splash Atop Alternative & Folk Albums Charts". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  38. ^ "Joanna Newsom Divers". August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  39. ^ Ryan, Gavin (October 31, 2015). "ARIA Albums: 5 Seconds of Summer Top Australian Chart". Noise11. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  40. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  41. ^ "Ultratop.be – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  42. ^ "Ultratop.be – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  43. ^ "Joanna Newsom Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  44. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  45. ^ "Lescharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  46. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  47. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Joanna Newsom". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  48. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  49. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  50. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  51. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  52. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  53. ^ "Joanna Newsom Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  54. ^ "Joanna Newsom Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  55. ^ "Joanna Newsom Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  56. ^ "Joanna Newsom Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
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