Joanna Newsom, "Good Intentions Paving Company" (2010)
find it on Have One On Me

Because my love for Joanna Newsom came from Naive Harmonies' own XtianDC convincing me to persevere and learn to love the songs, I always want to try and talk folks into loving it as well, while knowing that almost no one goes for it. There's always a complaint about the voice and no amount of pointing out parts or beauty seems to ever do the trick.

If there's any song in Joanna's canon that could persuade the doubters, this is it. The piano bounces along loosely with the drums, creating a casual vibe that still has the same beauty that so many of her gorgeous hooks do. The California 70's vibe gives it a warmth that usually frozen out by the brittle harp so that the catches sound much more poppy than they really are.

As different as this song's sound is from most of her others, though, it's stunning underline is still the same as all the others: that such catchy melodic moments can be part of such a complex yet seamless song arrangement. The gorgeous melody that begins at the 49 second mark is the kind of Newsom moment that backed with a harp would be devastating, but with this instrumentation, it sounds cozy and playful.

And...and...oh, I know. The voice.