Reviews:CD of the Week:Uh Huh Her:The Queen of Drama
By: Fiona Shepherd - The Scotsman
May 28th 2004 9:01am
Like all truly great artists, PJ Harvey is a law unto herself;
the very antithesis of the modern pop star whose movements are
dictated by the wheels of commerce. But what drives Harvey's train
of creativity is her capacity for restless inquiry - she is
compelled to change to keep herself stimulated.
Although she has worked with some of the same core musicians for
the last 15 years, she is open to fresh, often surprising, musical
partnerships. Since her last album, the Mercury Music Prize-winning
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, she has undertaken
extra-curricular collaborations with Queens Of The Stone Age leader
Josh Homme (on his Desert Sessions project) and with Marianne
Faithfull, writing and producing material for the gravelly diva's
next album.
She moves around a lot too, not because of touring, on which she
keeps a tight rein, but to experience different environments.
Stories..., the high water mark of her career to date, was partially
recorded in the heart of New York, the rest back in her childhood
home of Dorset. This time she cloistered herself, with only drummer
Rob Ellis, her longterm collaborator, for company. The result is a
stripped-back, claustrophobic labour of obsessive love. Sample song
title: The Darker Days of Me & Him. After the natural romantic
euphoria of Stories, Uh Huh Her is PJ's love hell.
It opens with The Life and Death of Dr Badmouth, an archetypal PJ
lowslung blues about the evil men speak. In particular, PJ's man.
"Everything is poisonyour lips taste of poison," she accuses. "You
were an unhappy child/That doesn't make your lying mouth alright,"
she continues, urging him to "wash it out".
The arresting bluesy torch song Shame is anchored by that
marvellous muscular voice of hers, exposing true, wounded soul. It's
her best vocal performance on an album which is full of feeling. Too
suddenly, it's over. She may be down, but she ain't gonna wallow.
The primitive garage howl of Who the F***? is also brief and to
the point, the point being 'get away from me if you know what's good
for you'. "I'm not like other girlsget your dirty fingers out of my
hair," screeches Polly, stomping around in her big leather boots,
incandescent with rage and, in places, virtually incomprehensible.
Her powers of articulation have collapsed completely by the end as
she splutters and stutters "whof***" repeatedly. It's an Oscar-
worthy performance.
Uh Huh Her is an emotionally - as much as musically - dynamic
album. From unbridled wrath, Harvey moves to defenceless pleading on
The Pocket Knife, a touching tale of a girl resisting plans for a
forced marriage. "Please don't make my wedding dress/I'm too young
to marry yetI'm not trying to cause a fuss/Just want to make my own
f***-ups," she implores, tapping into the darkest country music
tradition. There's a tangible undercurrent of quiet desperation.
In such devastating company, underwhelming current release The
Letter is a strange choice of lead single. But PJ never takes the
easy route, such as following one of her most successful and
accessible albums to date with something similarly outward-looking.
Instead, she drifts for a couple of numbers, bringing it back with
the loose grunge rocking of Cat on the Wall, which would not sound
out of place next to her Desert Sessions work. Its underlying sense
of foreboding doesn't lift, even as her lyrics take a turn for the
positive on You Came Through, a testament to steadfast support set
to an aboriginal-sounding percussive backing.
Exhausted by the conflict, she comes to the realisation that,
"when I'm not with you/my dreams are so very darkeverything just
comes apart", on It's You, a simple and effective cocktail of piano,
drums, a hint of bass and then fuzz blues guitar. In the dying
moments of the album, The Desperate Kingdom of Love emerges as the
highlight. Showcasing a rare serenity in Harvey's voice, it is a
quiet, graceful, poetic, acoustic meditation in the vein of Johnny
Cash, Tom Waits or her former paramour Nick Cave, with the potential
to resonate over the years.
Her ability to make visceral drama out of observing the
mundanities of relationships has not been tamed. Uh Huh Her is
another fine body of work. In atmosphere, it is equal to anything
she has done. But the songs on Stories... will take some beating and
she hasn't risen to that challenge here.
 (C) 2004 The Scotsman. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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