I know I constantly say it, but lo-fi indie folk rock seems to be "in" at the moment. To be honest, I can't wait until the hipsters invent a single word to describe this sort of music, so that I can steal it and label all of the singer-songwriters currently using the style in one, great, sweeping gesture. Maybe then, whenever someone tries to describe music like this to me, the description will be shorter than the actual album itself.

To get somewhat back on topic, Joanna Newsom is a singer-songwriter from America, who also does double-duty as the keyboardist in indie band The Pleased. In addition to playing keyboard and singing, she's also a classically trained harpist, so she certainly has no shortage of musical talent.

Unfortunately, despite all of Newsom's talent, there is a problem with this album. A giant, monstrous, colossal problem. This problem is Newsom's voice, which sounds something like that of a drug-addicted ten year old. Words can't describe how grating and unpleasant it is, something like getting all the worst aspects of Björk's voice, distilling them to near purity, and then magnifying it ten times.

It's a shame, because apart from Newsom's nightmare-inducing voice, this is actually a decent enough record. The lyrics are whimsical and the songs have content reminiscent of fairy tales, such as on the opening track Bridges and Balloons. Newsom's classical training is also highly evident in the very sparse instrumentation, while she doesn't create massive walls of sound, the music still sounds very full and solid, and not insubstantial like some other music of this type. In a few places, the songwriting gets a bit wonky, like in Peach, Plum, Pear, which seems to be missing a melody, and in the six-minute Sadie, which seems to drag on for a few too many minutes.

Still... that voice. I'd go so far as to say that if you can put up with that voice, then you will probably get a lot out of this album. However, if you're like me, you'll probably throw a pillow at the speakers as soon as Newsom starts singing, desperately trying to shut the sound off somehow. It's a shame, because if it weren't for that one flaw, this would be a much better album than it is.