PJ Harvey
Let England Shake


4.5
superb

Review

by conradtao EMERITUS
February 15th, 2011 | 332 replies


Release Date: 2011 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Gordon Brown just doesn't get it.

The best thing about PJ Harvey's performance on The Andrew Marr Show last April was the bemused look on Gordon Brown's face. It wasn't just that the former Prime Minister's bewildered expression was funny (although it most definitely was). There was something distinctly unsettling and daring about Harvey performing the title song off of her newest album, Let England Shake, in front of a man who had been accused of ill-equipping English military forces in Iraq. Although Harvey's strange black headdress and typically idiosyncratic performance certainly did invite confused reactions, her words could not be more straightforward: "England's dancing days are done / another day, Bobby, for you to come home / and tell me indifference won."

Let England Shake is, as its title suggests, PJ Harvey's "English album". But it's also her "protest album" - her "war album", if you will. Not that Polly Jean Harvey is waxing rhapsodic about the current state of affairs; rather, through her explicit references to the landing at Anzac Cove, Harvey paints England (and the West in general) as a tired, war-ridden place. There's no blind nationalism to be found here. So while Let England Shake at first seems impenetrable to those audiences not attuned to its sensibilities or subject matter, as is the case with most self-consciously English art, its ostensible esotericism is eventually overridden by its knack for gorgeous lyricism and the music itself, which sounds as fresh as ever. This shouldn't really come as a surprise, since Harvey is an artist extremely prone to reinvention; as she told Andrew Marr, "My biggest fear would be to replicate something I've done before."

Well, Harvey hasn't done anything like Let England Shake before, and I'd venture that hardly anybody has. Because while war, protest, and patriotism are themes that have been revisited in pop music ad nauseam, there aren't many artists who would write a line like "I've seen soldiers fall like lumps of meat / blown and shot out beyond belief" and sing it with dead-eyed precision. Moments where Harvey sings exclusively about her homeland are marked by a sense of exasperation and an almost obligatory pride; the loose groove of "The Last Living Rose" begins with Harvey singing, "Goddamn Europeans! Take me back to beautiful England." Though her words suggest national pride, she sounds mildly disgusted with herself and her country. Continuing in this vein, the most scathing moments on the album concern Western arrogance; the viciously sarcastic call-and-response vocal of "The Glorious Land" culminates with, "What is the glorious fruit of our land? Its fruit is deformed children!" And when she isn't condemning smug superiority, she's addressing sheer ineptitude, asking, "What if I take my problem to the United Nations?" over and over again on first single "The Words That Maketh Murder".

Of course, Harvey knows the answer to that question, and she knows that we know it too. What makes her rhetorical query so devastating isn't what she's asking, which is an obvious joke and a playful reference to Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", but the cheerful and unassuming way that she's asking it. These shadings color in the album's blunter moments more fully. Considering that on paper, Let England Shake should be either a simpleminded statement of dissent or jingoism, the subtleties of tone played with here are welcome. Whether it's through subtly employing brass to reinforce the downtrodden nature of "All and Everyone" or sampling a limp reveille call in the aforementioned "The Glorious Land", Harvey always takes savage delight in skewering the tropes of the various genres that she dabbles in. That this record is Harvey's loosest and most approachable in nearly a decade almost seems like a coincidence. The music is as meticulously arranged and produced as ever - it just happens to be filled with memorable tunes.

Tying those tunes together is Harvey's inimitable voice, distinctive and chameleonic all at once. It takes the form of off-key mewling in "England", expressive crooning in "All and Everyone", and stoic chanting in "The Words That Maketh Murder". Her haunting wail on "Written on the Forehead" lends an ethereal quality to the song's surreally frightening imagery. "People throwing dinars at the belly-dancers / in a sad circus by a trench of burning oil / people throw belongings and lifetime's earnings / amongst the scattered rubbish and suitcases on the sidewalk," Harvey sings, sounding utterly blissful. This intentional mismatch is disorienting, as is the sampling of Niney the Observer's "Blood and Fire", yet another example of Harvey's subversion of expectations. The guitar lines are nothing short of dreamy, and the returning refrain of "let it burn, let it burn, let it burn, burn, burn" is positively brimming with joy. As Harvey sings of people trying to escape a rioting city and doves drowning in sewage, we're left wondering if "Written on the Forehead" is an elegy or a cathartic release.

Perhaps it's neither. Harvey has, after all, avoided the notion that Let England Shake has a particular political motive. She seems more interested in exploring the feelings that arise in times of conflict and finding the intimacy in war's brute force and broad strokes. Harvey effectively pares an enormous military option down to a painfully personal narrative on the elegant "On Battleship Hill", singing, "The scent of Thyme carried on the wind / stings my face into remembering / cruel nature has won again." By looking at war through her humanistic lens, she connects with her audience on a deeply emotional level. And so Let England Shake is a thrilling and stirring call to wake up from apathy. Where Harvey goes next is anybody's guess, but for now, as always, she seems right at home.



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user ratings (689)
4
excellent
other reviews of this album
JViney EMERITUS (4)
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori...



Comments:Add a Comment 
conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I really struggled with this review - I'm pretty unhappy with the conclusion - but it's here, anyways.



I absolutely adore this album.

conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I'm actually really curious to see how Sputnik reacts to this record..

iFghtffyrdmns
February 16th 2011


7044 Comments


this is a quite enjoyable read if I may say so. I dig your diction, to be honest I think I'm a bit jealous haha. Maybe I'll give this a listen, although she's been around for ages so it'd be odd to start getting into her now...

couldwinarabbit
February 16th 2011


6996 Comments


god I love 2011. It is like we are in some alternate reality where all music is awesome.

good review

theacademy
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


31865 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

PJ FUCKING



Spare
February 16th 2011


5567 Comments


album is incredible.

Chrisjon89
February 16th 2011


3833 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Can't wait to pick it up. Good review.

JViney
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


322 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

My review of this is due to go up tonight. Would have been sooner but work etc got in the way. I didn't think that many people would get the Blue Cheer reference, but every review I've read of this album mentions it. Didn't realise Blue Cheer had such a fan club!

jeremologyy
February 16th 2011


294 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

best thing she's done since To Bring You My Love. this is perfect.

STOP SHOUTING!
February 16th 2011


791 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

this is a great album.

conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Oh shit, what?

Nagrarok
February 16th 2011


8656 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Yup this is good. Which also goes for the piece of writing at the top of this page.

conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Thank you! :D



I'm always a little sad when I see a neg without an explanation. :C

Irving
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


7496 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Solid review Conrad, and congrats on the feature! This album sounds morbidly beautiful and fricking epic - you've got me interested for realz. But let's talk about your review!



Some minor quibbles:



i.) Not that Polly Jean Harvey is exactly waxing rhapsodic about the current state of affairs

You don't really need the "exactly", methinks.



ii.) Moments were Harvey sings exclusively about her homeland are marked by a sense of exasperation and an almost obligatory pride

Where?



iii.) You are right in saying that the ending is a bit rough-shod. It seems like you're trying to build up to some grandiose conclusion, but trip on your shoelaces. Maybe I'm reading too much between the lines here, but I think its problem is that it tries to cover so much at once, looking for a common ground between the elements. Ultimately however, it ends up scrounging at straws, giving up, and setting the whole construct down in a right huff. At least, that's the impression I get. My suggestion would be to have at it again when you feel like your thoughts have cleared up a little.



This was not your best Conrad, but you'd still pretty much slaughter my work any day. Cheers! =)

conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Thanks so much for the comments, Irving..much appreciated. And I'm not so sure about slaughtering your work...your Bieber review was fantastic!!! ;D

DocSportello
February 16th 2011


3446 Comments


Just listening to this now. I'm in-between classes, so I can't give it my full attention, but "The Word That Maketh Murder" sounded like it would be something I'd dig.

Hopefully this and the Yuck debut will be able to contain me until Saturday morning.

conradtao
Emeritus
February 16th 2011


2090 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

It probably will, Dan. Both records are excellent.



I just did a big overhaul of the review. Hope it reads a bit better now..

omnipanzer
February 16th 2011


21827 Comments


pos'd,
Look forward to getting this (after the ten other new albums i'm trying to enjoy atm).

jrowa001
February 16th 2011


8752 Comments


need to get this

AggravatedYeti
February 16th 2011


7683 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

ace review conrad. I've got this album lying around, I still need to give it a spin.

everything I've been hearing points towards greatness.



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