Since the announcement of Have One on Me, Joanna Newsom’s follow-up to 2006’s flawless album Ys, Drag City has made available a few streams via their website.  The first of which, “‘81″ resulted in the site being completely overloaded, with the second track titled “Good Intentions Paving Company” was made available earlier today.

While I miss the quality string section that was prominent on Ys, the jazz leanings of this newest stream along with the general sparseness and stripped down sound of “‘81″ puts the focus squarely on Newsom’s vocals, her ability of which seems to have vastly improved by leaps and bounds. It feels more mature and focused — makes me kind of curious how someone listening to her now for the first time would think compared to her earlier work.

I’m sure we’ll hear more as the February 23rd release date quickly approaches, but considering it’s going to be a a triple album (3x-CD/LP), this already appears to be epic. Though, I do worry about how much filler this could contain, unless it’s just jam-packed with 7-minute tracks of awesome.  Will it be able to stand proudly against another triple album like 69 Love Songs?  We’ll find out soon enough!

Streams:
Joanna Newsom :: “‘81″ [alt. link]
Joanna Newsom :: “Good Intentions Paving Company” [alt. link]