Joanna Newsom is not someone who can be easily placed categorically, but we will give it a shot. The Californian folk singer/songwriter/harpist/actress is in Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming film Inherent Vice, but she recently told Dazed she is working on fresh tunes.
"I'm working on something new — I should hopefully have a little more news soon," Newsom said, via Stereogum. "I've been working hard for a lot of those five years on a new idea."
Vice is a 1970s-set picture that deals with race issues, and Newsom used it as a bridge to current events.
"I think the film drums up a sense that dark forces are at work behind the scenes, and that's a fear that many people I know struggle with, particularly in the States right now," she said. "There's an incredible sense of — at the risk of sounding melodramatic — a conspiracy. I mean, right now, what's happening in Ferguson and in New York is terrible: terrible cases of cops murdering people and getting away with it. The words civil rights violation come up a lot in this film, and I think that that applies more today than it has for decades."
On a lighter note, she also discussed the possibility of curating a film soundtrack in the future.
"It's just a question of putting time and energy into the thing that is most rewarding at any given time," Newsom said. "This movie was so incredibly rewarding and fun for me, and it did maybe defer some of my music work for a while, but it was totally worth it. I think I would do a film soundtrack if I was very inspired by the idea and the collaboration, knowing that it would maybe take away a little bit of my time spent on other music, touring and so forth. But I would really love to some day."
The 32-year-old broke onto the indie folk scene with The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004, but has not dropped a new LP since 2010's Have One on Me.
She also made it onto The Roots's song "Right On." Check it out:
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