P. J. Harvey. Photo by David Mitchell
If you’re a great artist, you’re going to be misunderstood. That’s all but guaranteed. Much depends, though, on the degree of your own complicity, your own attempts to evolve, wear masks, repudiate old passions and personnas. Much depends upon how often you “put on” others and then take those put-ons back.
Few musicians have undergone as many incarnations, in so short a time span, as Polly Jean Harvey, better know as PJ. She’s been a vamp, a tramp, a chanteuse, a rocker, a folky, a poet, a punk and a tease. Always with an edge, overt or covert, PJ Harvey won’t stand still and she won’t give in to the pressures that face all successful commercial musicians.
Born (1969) in Dorset, England, Polly Jean was raised on a sheep farm, which is probably a bit unusual for a future Punk Noir goddess of the deep. Her parents, a stonemason and a sculptor (PJ is a sculptor in her own right), fed her a steady, eclectic diet of Blues, Rock and Jazz, which set the stage for her own encounters with an even wider range of music. In recent interviews, she has discussed her exploration of classical music, especially Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Samuel Barber. Her peformances and albums reflect that diversity.
Her energy is phenomenal. I hear it in her voice, her guitar licks, and see it in her videos. The complexity of human emotion carried in her music is haunting. She is never boring, and always surprising.
In this video, Harvey struts like a king of Rock N Roll, and does it better than 99% of the best prancers in the biz. Her swagger, her cockiness, her strength break the rules and shatter ceilings.
This is Love
I haven’t listened to all of her albums, but my favorite so far is Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. New York comes to mind, along with Patti Smith. But mostly, the sense of a tortured, dynamic soul, reacting to the night, reacting to the fragility of life with an in-your-face defiance that hurts.
I am not surprised this performer earns high interest, based on her preference for the music of Estonian Arvo Pärt, who is one strange dude and the great composer of Tabula Rasa (1977), Stabat Mater (1985) and Fratres (1992, the version I know; there are earlier versions).
Yeah I like Arvo Pärt. Harvey has range and power. A poet and sculptor as well as a Rocker. She’s also surprisingly funny at times. She’s like a swirling combination of Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, and Marlene Dietrich. Worth a close look. Not too many Rockers risk so much, evolve, grow. She’s a Brit, but her music makes me think more of New York City. Not sure why. Will be posting more about her music in the future.
And how about the elegant simplicity of the video portion of This is Love? Thanks for showing this!
Yep. She’s elegant. Guitar hero. Controlled mayhem. Sweetness and darkness. Dressed like Elvis, moving like Jagger, though understated in relative terms. Harvey is dangerous in a very good way.