PJ Harvey
Is This Desire?

THE REVIEW

Unfortunately, I don't "do" this site; I just "follow" it.
So, all I can do is review records from the recent past, even if they still seem motionless to me, suspended in a void, without a temporal placement.

PJ Harvey is a strange character in the musical landscape, so much so that it's hard to compare her to someone. Some try with Patti Smith or with the female alter ego of Nick Cave, but the comparisons don't hold.
Then there's someone who compares herself like the demented Carmen Consoli did by arrogantly declaring herself "the Italian PJ Harvey" (let's kill her!).
I like to evaluate her for what she is, a star that shines with its own light.

In this context stands this record, "Is This Desire?" which has an incredible atmosphere: the new sounds do not mask PJ's style; rather, they enhance it.
"Is this desire Enough enough To lift us higher To lift above?"
The ancient theme of Eros and Thanatos in PJ's visionary mind, evident in the superb song that titles the album. And what about the perfect song "A Perfect Day, Elise," almost an advertisement, almost dance and yet so raw in its arrangements.

The album opens with "Angelene" "I see men come and go But there'll be one who will collect my soul and come to me Two-thousand miles away He walks upon the coast Two-thousand miles away It lays open like a road".
There are many names of men and women in this album, in the titles like... Elise, Angelene, Catherine, and in the lyrics... Joe, for example. Names that PJ gives to her own imagination, a sort of personification of her own thoughts. It's brilliant and poignant. Like the penultimate song, "The River," where all the instruments seem caressed, and PJ's voice seems to flow, as if carried by the current towards the river mouth.
"Two silent birds Circled by Like our pain in the river And we followed the river And we followed the road And we walked through this land And we called it a home"

A great album, perhaps not on par with other productions by the singer-songwriter, but a fundamental step for those who want to get an idea of her.