PJ Harvey stands out among her generation as an artist renowned for her dynamic vocal range and provocative lyrics, exploring dark themes such as gender politics and social equality through her music.
In this saddening song by PJ Harvey, sparse instrumentation creates a feeling of melancholy and loss as its lyrics describe a dancer who has recently died.
The Words That Maketh Murder
The single is a political satire on language and its role in war, highlighting both its power and horrors. It explores violence’s devastating results while emphasizing empathy, compassion and communication as key ways forward. Furthermore, this piece discusses lingering trauma caused by witnessing murder and destruction first-hand.
Polly Jean Harvey is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and musician, producing ten studio albums under her own name as well as numerous collaborations with musicians like Tricky, Josh Homme and John Parish. As a natural performer she has made extensive tours across Europe and America.
Harvey formed her eponymous trio in 1991 in Dorset and released their debut album Dry on independent label Too Pure that autumn to widespread critical acclaim. Subsequent albums continued to challenge and excite, showing an ever-increasing sense of freedom with her music; its complex sonics often included various instruments; she’s one of the most adventurous singers of her generation with lyrics that combine poetic imagery with bold commentary.
The Cradle Will Rock
Harvey won the Mercury Prize for ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ in 2003 and embarked on an international tour. Subsequently released in summer 2004, his album Uh Huh Her received critical acclaim both at home and internationally.
Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 anti-capitalist operetta Steeltown USA by Marc Blitzstein combined operatic and popular song styles to portray labor’s fight against corporate greed in Steeltown, USA. Set within a fictional Brechtian allegory in which Mr. Mister owns all aspects of society including factory, newspaper, church and all social organizations; Blitzstein used these musical forms as metaphor for real events.
PJ Harvey has distinguished herself as an artist outside her musical career by painting, drawing and creating sculpture. She guest designed Francis Ford Coppola’s art & literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story as well as acting as Mary Magdalene in Hal Hartley’s movie ‘The Book of Life’ while creating the soundtrack for Ian Rickson’s New York production of Hedda Gabler with Ian Rickson as composer. Additionally she contributed music for film projects ‘Basquiat’ by Julian Schnabel, Stella Does Tricks by Coky Giedroyc and Tim Robbins’ ‘The Cradle Will Rock’ among many other projects.
Is This Desire?
At an age when overproduced pop was king, PJ Harvey offered an antidote: haunting trip-hop, petulant punk and haunted balladry. Though her early music stood out against its peers with its haunted trip-hop soundscapes and unabashed punk attitude, pin downing Harvey’s autobiography proved difficult; Harvey defied easy readings – refusing to be defined solely by what she wrote or sang about on records.
Every song of velvety beauty had an undertone of claustrophobic desolation; for every verse/chorus jewel there was a surprising and unpredictable mood piece. Additionally, her vocals ranged from an exhausted contralto to a sensuous yet almost whispered alto voice throughout.
Harvey’s music explored complex, dark themes relating to power dynamics, gender roles and social issues. Her debut album‘s song “Sheela-na-gig,” for instance, took its title from carvings of female exhibitionist genitals found throughout Ireland and England and depicted women as an oppressive force. On her 2011 release Let England Shake she explored war and patriotism complexities through songs like “The Glorious Land,” which juxtaposed beauty against horrors of war while exposing hypocritical rhetoric that glorified violence and destruction.