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Rating: There are moments when idleness can prove to be utterly overwhelming and, extraordinarily, gratifying.
As if by magic, I granted myself ten minutes of absolute nothingness. No stress, no work brickbats, no mental trips that mess with the brain. Ten minutes of sobbing at the blindness of the decadent world while wandering through the silliest videos on the web. YouTube: infernal machine, yet a source of incredible wonders. Skipping the damned oranges so much in vogue, I found myself in a burst of impulse. Among the dull clicks, the empty searches, and among the related videos, Miss. Harvey emerged, with a song I had never heard of: "Let England Shake".
I was in a mystical crisis. I dived into my Polly-branded CDs in search of the elusive track, but as I suspected, it did not appear. A scarlet pimpernel. A b-side? A rarity? A cover?
I had to stop with the fuss and start. Hit play towards paradise.
Quickly, on the infernal Google, I uncover the mystery: it is an unreleased song brought by Pj last year on tour. An unreleased track that might be part of the next, hypothetical album. I was ravenous, destructive. An elephant in a china shop.
It starts. Euphoria skyrockets.
"Take me back to Constantinopole...
No, you can't take me to Constantinopole..."
The beginning is already monumental. To kick off the dance is a retro swingjazz sample (taken from the swing standard "Istanbul (Not Constantinopole)" by The Four Ladies) and right when one is captivated by the unusual beauty of such a dancing vintage, here comes Polly, tiptoeing in to turn everything upside down, offering a beautiful, magnificent ballad from another era that seems a bit blues, a bit medieval, unwittingly turning into prewar-folk. Don't worry: this is a folk diametrically different from the ethereal and otherworldly movements of that magnificent, underrated jewel that was "White Chalk". Here, Polly is not the victim; she has returned to be the executioner, but in decidedly moderate tones. It is a gritty, poignant folk that ends in a radiant tam-tam of sensations, where Polly sings her own sample. Joy in three minutes and twenty-six, to put it simply.
Deliciously perverse, obsessive and enchanting, "Let England Shake" is an intimate yet impressive Pj Harvey: her soul set in a new perspective that exudes charm.
A song that is manna from heaven, a preview of an album that's already making my insides churn with anticipation. I might be biased, but for now, to the question: "Will the next album be a masterpiece?", I would surely answer: "Given the taste, there is a good probability it will be".
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Other reviews
By O__O
The rhythm is overwhelming, pulling one into a spiral and burying them.
An impassioned journey not to be missed, with Polly always ready to wound hearts with pointed arrows.
By azzo
Let England Shake is a raw and ruthless analysis of the British Empire, drenched in blood, flesh, and bodies going to die.
When faced with an artist of Mrs. Harvey’s caliber, one must evaluate the work in its entirety, certainly not in the details.
By enzodistefano
It’s the start of the journey through time.
In 40 min and 8 s PJ Harvey demonstrates how a musician can manage to conceive music by putting themselves to the test, researching, and, above all, recreating atmospheres whose existence we sometimes ignore.
