When PJ Harvey burst onto the rock scene with Dry, she was a fountain of cathartic rage, with crunching guitars and yelping lyrics. Now, what was started with the 1995 classic To Bring You My Love has come full circle on her sixth full release Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. PJ Harvey has matured, and the sum is equal to the whole of her parts.
PJ Harvey
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Island Records
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Stories from the City combines the visceral and the ethereal elements of Harvey's career into a cohesive unit of songwriting skill. This time out, PJ has dropped the heavy electronic tendencies of 1998's underrated Is This Desire? and focused more on the natural three-piece format, but with an evolved sound and enhanced with keyboards.
Songs like "Big Exit" and "Kamikaze" still rock with typical Harvey aplomb but are interspersed with introspective and atmospheric numbers like "One Line" and "You Said Something." Throughout the mix, Harvey's vocals ease from growling fury to soothing sexuality, melding to the mood of each track. Treading through the familiar territory of love and relationships, Harvey comes off as both angry and hopeful, often in the same song.
Three songs feature the added vocals of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, most notably on "This Mess We're In," a full blown duet between the two English stars. While the two sound great together, the track itself doesn't rise up to its full potential. "Beautiful Feeling" demonstrates the true capabilities of the pair, as Harvey's vocals and solitary guitar combine with Yorke's backing vocals to create a haunting and emotionally hard-hitting ballad.
Since her debut, PJ Harvey has been a media darling but has reached only minimal mainstream success. But the collection of songs on Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is one of Harvey's most accessible works to date, and a hit single would be the crowning jewel in an already well-established career.
