Is This Desire? (Island)

At one time, Polly Jean Harvey seemed poised to be the female Kurt Cobain: instead she became Trent Reznor. Working again with Nine Inch Nails producer Flood, Harvey now finds expression in textures -- grinding noises, rumbling bass, a heavenly soprano -- instead of exhibitionism. Her fifth album is peopled by mysterious women with saintly names (Catherine, Angelene, Joy). Maybe they’re the heroines she’d like to be; maybe they’re stand-ins for the desire she can’t identify. Whatever. Although Harvey’s further plunge into Goth is disappointing, her Faulknerian world of rivers, hills, and gardens is lush with beauty and danger.

E.M.