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Some in the city--local pols and nonprofit types--erupted in outrage a few months back when the bouncy yet depressive guitar-rock opener, "The Community of Hope" was released on Youtube. Essentially, it didn't present the sunny view they wanted. "Drug town... zombies ... highway to death and destruction... They're gonna put a Walmart here," etc. That of course sparked predictable defense of PJ Harvey as a truth teller and defender of the lower denizens of the 99 percent.
But neither her detractors or defenders were really prepared to deal with the literary sophistication of her art. There's a Washington Post story you can look up online written by the (semi-clueless) WaPo reporter who drove Harvey around what he considered the mean streets. The song is basically the reporter's view of his city. Elsewhere, in an article... er, I mean song, about Afghanistan, are the lines "I used to think progress was being made, that we could get something right," and "I make no excuse, we got things wrong, but I believe we also did some good." Slightly awkward poetry? Again, these are quotes most likely from a military or international aid official, not necessarily Polly Jean Harvey's judgment on America's cities or its wars. In both cases, they're outsiders viewing devastation they don't quite understand, privileged and empowered yet paralyzed and unable to help. Harvey seems to show herself in the same light in the final track.
I've bought every PJ Harvey album soon after its release since the first, and with each--with perhaps the exception of Uh Huh Her--she has deepened her songwriting and lyric writing while making quantum leaps in terms of tonal palette. Her last one, "Let England Shake," was almost disorienting in its power on the first few listens. Stepping away from her home shores, the America-centric "Hope Six Demolition Project" is more back to basics, echoing the crash and thrash of her earliest two albums, but retaining some of the gloss and spookiness of later records. Her singing is mainly back in the lower, more natural register that prevailed on "Stories from the City..." The current album keeps the almost journalistic approach of "Let England Shake," albeit more stream of consciousness and impressionistic. It is a deep dive into the psychic and physical destruction, both at home and abroad, our culture has helped bring about, though it's not partisan or finger pointing or romanticizing of "noble savages" in any way. Good intentions don't always pan out. (Nor do all the songs--"Medicinals" is moderately engaging as a song but to my ear indulges in a lazy, particularly English kind of anti-Americanism that detracts from the album, while "Ministry of Social Affairs" is just sort of boring and inessential... just before the final two tracks come roaring back.) Having spent time in each of the places--Kosovo, Afghanistan, DC--she focuses on, her viewpoint is strong, grounded and valid. And more importantly, this is a great album.
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