Divers (album)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.6/10[9]
Metacritic	88/100[10]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
The A.V. Club	B+[12]
The Daily Telegraph	[13]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[14]
The Guardian	[15]
The Independent	[16]
NME	4/5[17]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[18]
Rolling Stone	[19]
Spin	8/10[2]

Divers received widespread critical acclaim, achieving an aggregate score of 88 on Metacritic based upon 33 reviews.[10] It receives a similarly high score of 8.6 on AnyDecentMusic?, with the collated scores of thirty-five reviews.[9] 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."[20] Another positive review, by Ben Ratliff in The New York Times, described, "Almost nothing in the way this music is composed, produced (by Ms. Newsom and Noah Georgeson) or recorded (by Steve Albini and Mr. Georgeson) seems incidental or accidental. You almost want to hold the whole thing still, flatten it out and study it."[21]

Pitchfork 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".[18]

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."[22] 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".[23]

Newsom achieved her first No. 1 on Billboard's Alternative Albums chart with the album, which sold 14,000 units in its first week. It marked Newsom's best career sales week, topping the first week sales of 2006's Ys, which sold 9,000. Divers also debuted at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart, with 3,000 LPs sold.[36]

The track listing was officially announced by Drag City on August 10, 2015.[37]

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