The Return of Polly Jean Harvey
The forever changing rock experimentalist PJ Harvey is about to arise back on the music radar with her first solo album for four years, and true to form, it is set to be a completely different sound to her previous projects.
Harvey’s musical identity is almost indefinable, her style evolving with every record she makes. During the early 90’s rock explosion, Harvey was pegged in the ‘riot grrl’ pigeonhole by the media, an opinion to which she was quick to condemn, telling Vox magazine, ‘I think I’d find it quite patronising to be called a Riot Grrrl if I was one of them’. This opinion owed greatly to the rawness and controversial subject matter of her first two albums ‘Dry’ and ‘Rid of Me’, the primitive use of guitar and Harvey’s startling vocals make these both powerfully muscular records.
However her sound has developed throughout her career, her most recent solo album ‘White Chalk’ seeing Harvey take a drastically different approach to both song writing and composition; learning the piano from scratch and using alternative instruments such as the zither and autoharp to create her new sound. Singing in a much higher register than her ‘Dry’ days, and altogether losing her signature growl, Harvey’s new approach was much more eerie and dark, a quality more often associated with folk than rock.
Harvey has said of her often shocking lyrics and subject matter on her albums (from cutting up an ex-lover to drowning her daughter…) that rather than being autobiographical; her approach to song writing involves ‘creating short movies’ in her head and in a way, acting them out via music. However her upcoming album ‘Let England Shake’ takes yet another different approach in that Harvey is taking a political stand on the project, and also treating her lyrics more like poetry.
In a recent interview with Stereogum, Harvey admits that she ‘never had the confidence to try and address topics like these before’ and sees the new record as a natural progression. Her approach to making music is a constant development, believing that with every record a new sound can be created, telling Stereogum, ‘I always like to make a record and have it feel as if people were somehow hearing me for the first time.’
‘Let England Shake’ is sure to be an interesting record, exploring wider issues of the world as well as being a kind of portrait to Harvey’s home of England. Two of the twelve tracks have been posted on PJ Harvey’s YouTube account as part of the album promotion and can be found here, www.youtube.com/letenglandshake. The first track ‘The Last Living Rose’ is an upbeat homage to England, seeing Harvey return to the guitar and also play saxophone on the track. ‘Written On The Forehead’ has a much more ethereal quality, the dreamy vocals at the start reminiscent of The Cocteau Twins, yet the song evolves into a interesting blend of genres as the drums begin and a sample of Niney’s reggae classic ‘Blood & Fire’ is used. More indefinable than ever, PJ Harvey is back, and has a lot to say.
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake is due for release on February 14th 2011.
