pj harvey

Dramatic, poetic, minimalist - this subtly devastating and profound album works best when you give it the headspace it deserves.

These songs, adapted from her book of poetry ‘Orlam’, hit the same notes as Nick Cave at his most rhapsodic, and Patti Smith at her most refined, pushing her into an unfamiliar territory that purposefully prevents her from unleashing. This deliberate choice to push herself outside of her usual sound and styles has made this album perhaps unfairly overlooked this year. Her tenth is not an immediate winner for most, but one that rewards dedicated listening with an enormous and rich world waiting to be discovered.

"A tale of the changing seasons. “Curled ferns yet to uncurl” as spring approaches and “swifts abandon autumn’s ache” as the summer draws to a close. But there are dark happenings afoot. Very dark. It’s spooky. It’s eery. It’s unsettling. Come on in to the strange, scary world that Polly Harvey has created and stay a while. Like me, you may find it hard to leave." - Kevin