PJ Harvey
To Bring You My Love

THE REVIEW

I didn't like P. J. Harvey's latest image, the one from "Stories from the City..." to be clear, too "cleaned up," too "glamorous."
This is actually the Polly Jean I love, the one I believe to be more authentic. I adore her way of throwing her dark side and perversions in your face without shame, of using her femininity as a weapon. Of course, for a "rock star," it's much easier than for any woman, and maybe it even helps sell more records, but I like to think that Polly Jean is truly like that, the other side of the coin, the one we women usually don't want or can't show.

Polly Jean, like all born seductresses, is very good at creating "illusions"; starting with her physical appearance, for example: she isn't beautiful, but she's so convinced that she is, you'll end up believing it too, appreciating her irregular face and her petite body. Even "To Bring You My Love" is "an illusion," starting with the sweet title that would almost seem to contrast with the previous "Dry" and "Rid Of Me."

The first track, "To Bring You My Love," instead opens the door to a cold and dark room, she is there waiting for you, "I lay with the devil / I cursed the good Lord / Forsaken Heaven / To bring you my love", she says, but in reality, she just wants to "absorb" you, nullify your will as a reckless man who wants to enter.
The initial tension seems to soften with the still "strong" "Meet Ze Monsta" and "Working For The Man," reaching almost to light with the ballad "C'mon Billy," but the relief is short-lived, the dreamlike "Down By The Water" plunges us back into unease.

The charm of this album lies in the constant sense of "urgency" that pervades it. In all the lyrics, P. J. Harvey continually shifts from being victim to perpetrator, almost as if sometimes it is her own weapons that overwhelm her.