| PJ Harvey When I bragged to this guy I know that I had the opportunity towrite about the new PJ Harvey album, he said, "It's really bad. It'sreally poppy." I nodded politely while simultaneously (and silently)dismissing him as an ignorant fool. And I have not come to regret myhasty decision. During a discussion with my future roommates about ourhousing situation for next year, I decided to take the plunge and acquaintmyself with To Bring You My Love . Besides, I got it for free. Fora moment I worried about my friends' reactions, because as anyone on goodterms with either Rid of Me or The Four Track Demos knows,Polly Jean can initially startle the virgin ear. Some people would compareher voice to the sound of nails scratching across a chalk board, but Ikind of like the way she uses it as a weapon. I ignored my inner voice anddiscovered that PJ Harvey has mellowed in her old age, churning out analbum which explores the limits of harmony yet still guards its freshness. It appears that Harvey decided to experiment with the keyboard family thistime around; she only plays guitar on four of the ten tracks, but she iscredited with either organ or piano (or both) on all of them. AlthoughI'm sure that people all over the country are yelling about her sellingout, or complaining about how she lost her edge, I really liked ToBring You My Love --except for the album's title. I liked thatdespite the fact that the songs don't set your teeth on edge, she stillcreates an otherwordly sound that works well with the haunting quality ofher singing. My roommate says that this album will probably start givinghim nightmares. I say, listen to "Down By the Water" (which,incidentally, is the newly released single) at Cutler's or someplace andthen buy the album. And also remember: other people are never as psychedas you are when you get free stuff. --Kate Seward |
