Kindness Prevails!

Joanna Newsom “Esme”

Joanna Newsom is a wordy type, and although she writes with great precision, you can often pull out a line or two that gets to the heart of what she is singing so that all the rest is just detail and elaboration. In the case of “Esme,” it’s just two words: “Kindness prevails!” That declaration comes nearly five minutes into the composition, a moment of climactic epiphany in its gorgeous, slowly unfolding hymn-like melody. Newsom is singing to a young girl, marveling at her beauty and recalling the joy and generosity that met her arrival to this world. It’s an optimistic song in the face of great hardship, a piece of music that reminds both the subject and the listener that humanity is capable of incredible innate kindness and love. The tune is fragile and elegant, arranged only for Newsom’s voice and her harp, and it perfectly conveys its sentiment of thoughtful, intense sweetness. In lesser hands, “Esme” would be a sugary, simplistic Hallmark card; Newsom’s song is like a carefully considered, highly poetic long form letter.

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