Divers (album)

Divers
Studio album by Joanna Newsom
Released	October 23, 2015
Genre	Chamber folk, avant-garde, baroque pop
Length	51:52
Language	English
Label	Drag City
Producer	Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson
Joanna Newsom chronology
Have One On Me (2010) Divers (2015)
Singles from Divers
"Sapokanikan" Released: August 10, 2015 "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.^[1]

The album was revealed on August 10, 2015, along with its first song, "Sapokanikan", which was released digitally as the first single.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

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".^[5] 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.^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The A.V. Club	B+[9]
The Daily Telegraph	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[11]
The Guardian	[12]
The Independent	[13]
NME	4/5[14]
Pitchfork Media	8.5/10[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
Spin	8/10[17]

Divers received critical acclaim, achieving an aggregate score of 88 on Metacritic based upon thirty-three reviews.^[7] It receives a similarly high score of 8.6 on AnyDecentMusic?, with the collated scores of thirty-five reviews.^[18] 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."^[19]

Pitchfork Media 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".^[15]

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."^[20] 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"^[21]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
Drowned in Sound	Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of the Year 2015	2015	7[22]
Exclaim!	Exclaim!'s Top 10 Folk & Country Albums 2015	2015	2[23]
FLOOD Magazine	FLOOD's Best of 2015	2015	9[24]
The Guardian	The Best Albums of 2015	2015	10[25]
Magnet	Magnet's Top 25 Albums of 2015	2015	6[26]
musicOMH	musicOMH’s Top 50 Albums Of 2015	2015	4[27]
NME	NME'S Albums of the Year 2015	2015	17[28]
No Ripcord	Top Albums of 2015	2015	8[29]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	13[30]
	Readers' Top 50 Albums	2015	10[31]
Stereogum	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	22[32]

Track listing

The track listing was officially announced by Drag City on August 10, 2015.^[33]

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

No.	Title	Length
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

Performance

Joanna Newsom – harp, piano, Roland Juno-106, Minimoog, Schiedmayer celesta, Marxophone, Mellotron (MK II and M400), Wurlitzer electric piano, Neupert clavichord, Fender Rhodes piano with bass, Baldwin electric harpsichord, Baldwin Discoverer electric organ, Estey pump organ, guitaret, and vocals Dan Cantrell – Hammond organ, piano accordion, Andes recorder-keyboard, musical saw Ryan Francesconi – electric guitar, electric bass, bouzouki, bağlama Kevin Barker – electric guitar, banjo Judith Linsenberg – alto, tenor and bass recorder Logan Coale – double bass David Nelson – trombone Andy Strain – trombone Ben Russell – violin Rob Mooge – violin Matthew Slemela – violin Naidia Sirota – viola Hideaki Adomori – clarinet, bass clarinet James Smith – English horn Peter Newsom – drums Neal Morgan – drums

Production

• 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 "Anecodotes"
• 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

Chart (2015)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[34]	63
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[35]	30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[36]	25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[37]	70
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[38]	81
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[39]	14
French Albums (SNEP)[40]	168
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[41]	22
Irish Albums (IRMA)[42]	8
Italian Albums (FIMI)[43]	93
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[44]	26
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[45]	91
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[46]	56
UK Albums (OCC)[47]	10
US Billboard 200[48]	30

References

1. "Joanna Newsom Announces New Album Divers". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
2. "Joanna Newsom "Sapokanikan" (Official Video) - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
3. "Joanna Newsom Returns (With Paul Thomas Anderson)". ArtInfo. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
4. "Joanna Newsom Announces North American Tour, Will Screen Paul Thomas Anderson-Directed "Divers" Video in Movie Theaters". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
5. "Joanna Newsom Interview". September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
6. "Press Release" (PDF). September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
7. "Reviews for Divers by Joanna Newsom". Metacritic. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
8. Phares, Heather. "Divers – Joanna Newsom". AllMusic. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
9. Reiff, Corbin (October 23, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
10. Brown, Helen (October 27, 2015). "Joanna Newsom, Divers, review: 'a magic carpet ride'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
11. Maerz, Melissa (October 21, 2015). "Joanna Newsom is marvelous and mercurial on new album Divers: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
12. Petridis, Alexis (October 22, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers review – deeply idiosyncratic, straightforwardly striking". The Guardian. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
13. 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.
14. Monroe, Jazz (October 16, 2015). "Joanna Newsom – 'Divers'". NME. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
15. Snapes, Laura (October 19, 2015). "Joanna Newsom: Divers". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
16. Hermes, Will (October 20, 2015). "Divers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
17. 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.
18. http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/7587/Joanna-Newsom-Divers.aspx
19. Carlick, Stephen (October 20, 2015). "Joanna Newsom – Divers". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
20. http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19073/reviews/4149498
21. http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/reviews/albums/joanna-newsom-divers
22. "Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of the Year 2015". Drowned in Sound. Drowned in Sound. December 17, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
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24. "FLOOD's Best of 2015: Music (#25–5)". FLOOD Magazine. Anthemic Agency. December 7, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
25. "The Best Albums of 2015". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
26. "BEST OF 2015". Magnet Magazine. Magnet Magazine. December 18, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
27. "musicOMH's Top 50 Albums Of 2015". musicOMH. OMH. December 18, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
28. "NME'S Albums of the Year 2015". nme.com. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
29. "TOP ALBUMS OF 2015". No Ripcord. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
30. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
31. "Readers' Poll Results 2015". Pitchfork. January 5, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
32. "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". stereogum.com. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
33. "Joanna Newsom Divers". August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
34. Ryan, Gavin (October 31, 2015). "ARIA Albums: 5 Seconds of Summer Top Australian Chart". Noise11. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
35. "Austriancharts.at – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
36. "Ultratop.be – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
37. "Ultratop.be – Joanna Newsom – Divers" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
38. "Joanna Newsom – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Joanna Newsom. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
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40. "Lescharts.com – Joanna Newsom – Divers". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
41. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
42. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 44, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
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