So, I thought I would pay tribute to the
lady herself this week. This isn’t the first time PJs been awarded with one of the most
prestigious awards in music. She won back in 2001 with ‘Stories From The City,
Stories From The Sea’, having being nominated twice before that (1993 and
1995). She is the only artist to have ever won the Mercury Prize twice, and
that’s saying something!
Click the link to see this years fellow
nominees- http://www.mercuryprize.com/aoty/shortlist.php
 |
| PJ at the 2011 Mercury Prize |
What
I thought of the album…
Like with one of my favourite bands of all
time, Arcade Fire, I got scared. I got scared of this totally innovative never
before heard sound. I used to have a very strange and strong aversion to
classical instruments used in popular music, I thought it to be something very
self-indulgent and unnecessary (excluding ballads and when used subtly just to thicken a songs texture). Arcade Fire have two key
members of their huge clan who are violinists and because of that, along with
the way these instruments were used in such a prominent way, I just dismissed
the band altogether (this was during the time of their debut album ‘Funeral’
released in 2005). And boy do I feel like an utter imbecile now! Through all
their commercial success, winning a Grammy and Brit etc. these past two years,
I thought to myself, I’m gonna give this lot another try, see what all the fuss
is about (this is about five years later bare in mind). Result- I fell in love
with the album that had brought them all this mainstream success- ‘The Suburbs’.
I fell in love with them. Bought all their albums and spent a bomb on going to
see them live in Hyde Park.
Cut a long story short, it’s not about
following the crowd (well not for me anyway). We all do this thing where we
dismiss something that’s different or an anomaly before we’ve actually given it
a chance (not just with music may I add!). And I did this with ‘Let England
Shake’. I first heard extracts from the album on 'Later with Jools Holland' earlier this
year and thought PJ Harvey had totally changed her signature 90s spaced-out rock
sound to this crazy medieval influenced crap. I didn’t really know what to make
of the new sound, having been a massive fan of all her previous stuff. The
change had subconsciously freaked me out. It was only the title track single that grew on
me. I then heard that she had won the Mercury Prize the other
day and was disappointed that Anna Calvi didn’t.
My God had I totally f****d up on my
judgment. I am now absolutely obsessed with this album. Why do we as humans do this…wait for the approval from the approved to
approve?
My
personal favourites are:
“The Glorious Land” (track 3) – Such clever songwriting and production in this one. The
almost archaic choice of phrases in the lyrics and use of the classic battle
horn combined with the totally modern sounding bass line and synth sounds makes
for such a cool, contrasting yet united sound. I just can’t quite put my finger
on it. You’ll get this a lot with the album.
“The Words That Maketh Murder” (track 4) – This was the track that Polly Jean (hence PJ) performed
at the Mercury Prize. I love the vibe of travelling and movement in this track.
Great descending chords in the verse. And that lyric- ‘What if I take my problem to the United Nations?’
– no justification needed.
“All & Everyone” (track 5) – One word…Intense.
“In Dark Places” (track 8) – Love it, even from the very first line ‘We got up
early, washed our faces’.
“Written on the forehand” (track 11) – I love the Reggae feel in this song, which is totally
random to the collective sound, yet totally relevant. And I love this factor of
the album. Also, her voice is just enchanting.
Before
you go…
If you decide that you just really don’t
like the album at all, still listen to all her old stuff. I urge you. She is
one of the great living musicians and songwriters of our time, and a Brit! As a
female musician myself, I find her work to be really important and liberating,
especially from a Rock n Roll point of view. There’s nobody like her I don’t
think, she changed the game for female artists in the UK. If you like 90s rock,
she’s an essential.
There’s no wonder Josh Homme (front man and
core songwriter of Queens Of The Stoneage) collaborated with her with his
project band Desert Sessions. Listen to the song “Crawl Home” as a taster of
the collaboration. The pair are a perfect combination of musicians for this
genre, in my opinion. She’s also ‘collabed’ with Thom Yorke (Radiohead)!
Just one last thing, check out PJ Harvey’s
duet with Björk at the 1994 Brit
Awards, where they covered the Stones’ “Satisfaction”. Wow. What a performance.
It just keeps building up, and then boom!
Take care everyone. Love, peace et La
Musique!
Ms. B
X
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