Dance Hall At Louse Point PJ Harvey has never been an artist to take lightly, never someone you could afford to have the slightest ambivalence about. She will either do it for you big style or send you scuttling for cover behind your Crowded House albums. Ever since she shed the uneasy skin of 'Rid of Me' and re-emerged as gothic voodoo whore, I, for one, have been utterly compelled by Polly Jean Harvey. Just watching her evolve as an artist has been a fascinating spectator sport, a welcome dash of colour amidst the grey monotony of all those Brit-Pop dullards. If last year's 'To Bring You My Love' was Polly teaching goth to sing the blues then, with 'Dance Hall at Louse Point', she makes it squeal like a hog. This is what immediately strikes you about this collaboration, the sheer rawness of the production. John Parish scrapes and scratches at his guitars, alternating between zombie slow death chords and demented dervish thrashing, the perfect vessel for Polly to pour her undiluted bile. You don't wonder about how many sets of strings he went through, more how many sets of fingers he lost, for the tension maintained throughout is utterly breathtaking. Take Neil Young, John Lee Hooker and a lot of broken bottle necks and you will get some idea where this train is heading. It is as much a dramatic work as a musical one. Vocals are delivered in croaking monologues as often as sung, telling tales of lust, love, betrayal and death against the vast backdrop of bible belt Americana hell. The extreme nature of the characters portrayed here gives Polly chance to explore the full range of her astounding voice. On 'Rope Bridge Crossing' she once again unleashes her 'long snake moan', a howling banshee wail that knows no peace. The most astonishing performance however is to be found on 'Taut' where a tale of misplaced religious zeal is told in a ranting tracheotomy vocal that is terrifyingly close to Diamanda Galas territory. To redress the balance, there are a few really beautiful songs here, such as the Peggy Lee classic 'Is that all there is?', and the single 'That was my Veil' but, on the whole, this is definitely not for the faint hearted. |
