Precious things. It is a times like this when I realise how inept I am at expressing myself with words. I saved The Milk-Eyed Mender for the weekend because I am more open to new things when relaxed. No work to do.

Joanna Newsom’s 2004 debut is bewitching and I’ve been listening to it for most of today. It’s more than lovely. It pokes and prods at my brain. It’s happy, then dark, then funny. Her lyrics are poetry: sometimes thoughtful and at other times rather bizarre, but every word appears to have been written with an intended precision. I simply cannot understand how these apparently random and peculiar ideas have burst out of her mind and ended up as well-formed and naturally appealing as these songs are. Genius.

The Book of Right-On is probably the most straightforward and accessible song on the album, being a jaunty harp and vocal number, which occasionally meanders into more experimental areas before returning to its main theme and bassline.