As we have mentioned for previous artists covered on the Record Club, like David Bowie and Talking Heads, there will eventually come the album in the more singular artist’s career that tries to best merge their own sensibilities with one that appeals to a more populist crowd. However, whereas Let’s Dance and Little Creatures were both (great) albums that appealed to mid-80’s pop sensibilities, PJ Harvey was fortunate enough to release Stories from the City; Stories from the Sea on the cusp of the new millennium, when people liked their rock melancholy and clean. As a result Harvey, more than any other artist so far on Record Club, bridges the transition between a more inviting sound and one that keeps to that of the discography we know.
That isn’t to say there isn’t some big changes on this record, but no more so than we had already become accustomed to on Is This Desire. The production on this album – by Harvey, Rob Ellis and the no-relation-except-for-both-being-music-legends Mick Harvey – is for the most part lush and encompassing. On songs like “You Said Something” and “This Mess We’re In” you can almost hear every individual string on guitars being strum. This is also not to say that there are unique musical decisions we are all to familiar with from Harvey, such as the light marimbas on “We Float” and I believe some kind of harmonium on “A Place Called Home”. Those my favourite kind of sound on a record sonically; one’s where I’m not sure where the sounds are coming from.
Despite the title, and previous Harvey projects, the lyrics of this record are definitely more focused on the city than nature. That isn’t to say its imagery is not there, but it is nearly always in association with the “city people” Harvey so describes in “The Whore’s Hustle and the Hustler’s Whore” and the cityscapes of “This Mess We’re In” and ”You Said Something.” The city of Harvey’s lyrics is universal and unspecific, like the blurred out cover upon which Harvey looks as composed as she has ever been.
But this musical direction does have one major con for me though, and that is in Harvey’s voice. Not that it’s bad, in fact quite the opposite: it’s gorgeous! But Harvey’s commitment to utter beauty means that we lose much of that theatrical quality which so invigorated Harvey’s last three records, replaced with something more traditional. There are some notable exceptions, like her vocals which are occasionally as blown as the gun of the track “Big Exit”, the contrast between that snarling and beauty in “The Whore’s Hustle” and the sheer forcefulness in one many album highlights, “Kamikaze”. But Harvey is not the only vocalist on this album; on “This Mess We’re In” Radiohead legend and obsessive of many a melancholic teenager (*raises hand*) Thom Yorke lends his falsettos to Harvey’s lyrics and gives probably his best guest vocal next to UNKLE’s “Rabbit in Your Headlights” (though like in the latter Yorke is actually the main vocalist.)
Is This Desire? was a record where the accumulative effect of the tracks led up to the larger experience, but despite my adoration it is not an album I can see myself putting on regularly. However, Stories from the City is the PJ Harvey album I can most see myself putting individual songs into a playlist; not that there is a bad track on the album, and the track listing is certainly effective towards the slower and softer finale, but for me it is one where the sum of the parts are slightly greater than the whole. And that is praising with the absolute faintest of damns.
What do you think though?
“Big Exit”: This track with its angrier vocals during the introduction and hard pushing guitars and drums, wouldn’t sound so much out of place on To Bring You My Love. It is during the guitar licks and the echoing Harvey of the chorus that this track shows the cards the album will be mostly playing.
“Good Fortune”: The tone and rhythm of the guitar on this song reminds me at points of the opening of Nirvana’s “About a Girl”. The aforementioned marimbas really help give the tone of the song a weightless and ethereal feel. Catchy enough that I understand why this was the lead single, but I think others may have been a better choice.
“A Place Called Love”: As well as the aforementioned pleasance of the bandonium/ harmonium undefinable sound throughout this track, another aspect of the song is the tingly and fast percussion. They are definitely processed coming from a drum machine, but in the context of the song they really do work. The pretty guitar tone and Harvey’s voice should go without saying.
“One Line”: Joint for my favourite track on the album, with some added Yorke backing vocals accompanying the heavenly atmosphere already provided by the muted guitars and the tuned percussion.
“Beautiful Feeling”: Still a good song, but it is probably my least favourite track on the album given just how similar it is to the track previously (calmer and slower, but also longer when it doesn’t necessarily need to be). There are moments where the backing vocals and Harvey meet together though that are magic.
“The Whore’s Hustle and the Hustler’s Whore”: One of the harder tracks on the album. Also one where, if you follow the rhythm, it is another case of Harvey being musically complicated without showing off about it. The muted tremolos give the an almost psychedelic, drugged feeling at end, appropriate for the lyrics
“This Mess We’re In”: Thom Yorke has said on occasion he doesn’t like just how nice and clean his voice is, and on Kid A onwards would sometimes fight against this. So this song definitely got him at peak “pretty voice”. The dual guitar tones throughout this song, especially the higher octaves, manage to be simultaneously light and full. Next to “One Line” and “We Float” my favourite song off the album.
“You Said Something:” Like “Beautiful Feeling” it is very similar in tone with the drums and guitar to the song that came prior to it. But the sweeps of the guitar and Harvey’s primary vocals make more than enough variety. The organ and dual guitar also really help to solidfy the sound
“Kamikaze”: This track is one Albini production away from being fit for the Rid of Me record. The theatricality of Harvey’s shrieks return, along with the pounding drums and the rolling riffs from the low guitars. Also like “The Whore’s Hustle…” has hidden complications in rhythm, mainly from the light syncopations of the other guitar
“This is Love”: Probably the most simplistic that Harvey has ever been lyrically, but the production of the music makes up for that. Great dynamic changes reminiscent of previous records, but still combined with the high guitar licks found throughout Stories From the City…
“Horses in My Dreams”: I’m normally not a fan of the obligatory slow penultimate tracks on albums (even ones I love), but there is something about the strings and acoustics on this one that really got to me. Accompanied with those soft piano chords and Harvey’s long vocals, and you have a heavenly, dreamy track that also transitions great into the finale.
“We Float”: A soft and, obvious adjective, floaty finale where the tightness of the drum machine lets the other instruments feel like they are moving around the track when they are not really. Climax of all pretty much all the instruments that had been used on the album really gives emphasis to the “we” part.
PJ Harvey Album Rankings
- Is This Desire?
- Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
- To Bring You My Love
- Rid of Me
- Dry
- 4-Track Demos
- Dance Hall at Louse Point