Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 02:13 PM by Nikos Nakos
Sometimes I recall from my childhood a cartoon in which the featuring superheroes had a special skill- power, like an element (air, heart, water) that was helping them. This idea follows me until now, so sometimes I wonder which is the secret that every figure hides, which is its unique ability to confront the things, in some cases being unknown to the person itself.
If I think of PJ Harvey, I can tell that she looks like a super- hero due to the picture of her that I have in my mind: short messy haircut, white clothes reminding us of astronomy themes, pink leggings, white boots, marakas in her hands. Her live shows begin with the sound of a whistle, she dances on stage without rhythm, making me think that she performs for those who want another- contrasting, difficult to be determined Loreena McKennitt. These are some of the styles that have been adopted by her, as we will explain below, her main care is to change style in every album, and at the same time her stage appearance and her aura to follow her new aims.
Polly Jean Harvey was born on October 9th, 1969 in Corscombe of England. Her father was masonry worker and her mother sculptress. She became famous to us as a musician, singer, and lyricist, but she had also studied sculpture, (there are exhibitions that have hosted her artworks), she attended art lessons, and she learned to play the saxophone and the guitar, the last one is usually used by her in her live shows. Her career begins in January 1991, during her cooperation with Rοbert Ellis on drums and Steve Vaughn on bass. The band was named PJ Harvey, a name that follows her to her solo career, as she is famous by that name until now. The first song that made her stand out was “Dress” (1991), that offered her opportunities from record companies. Her first album “Dry” (1992) showed that something was moving in the art industry as it managed to catch the attention.
It could be said that many of her music moments are not strong enough. However, I believe that she can never be characterized as bad, regardless of the fact that some of her audience might not prefer her in all of her versions. However it is sure that in each of her albums she tries to make a difference, changing the way she composes and orchestrates, using different musical instruments. These changes are followed by experimental vocals and a different appearance contributing every time to the shaping of something distinctive.
I will go on to present a short flashback on her discography: Simple diffusing childhood behavior on “Dry and Demonstration” (1992), dirtier, sexier and more desperate on “Rid of Me” (1993). Until that moment her femininity stops at something close to what is shown on her videoclip Man size: There, without any make- up, dressed in a simple way, she expresses a femininity in conflict with herself, in a sarcastic and fluffy way. Being more feminine now, her first solo release – as she broke up with her fellow musicians- “To bring you my love” (1995) finds her with more rage and self- confidence. “Dance Hall at Louise Point” (1996) finds her with more grief and nostalgia trying at the same time to be more experimental. Heavier, more tired and electro comes to “Is this Desire” (1998). Her happiness in her music comes out again with the awarded with Mercury Prize “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” ( 2000) that seems the best soundtrack for travelling to the countryside with all the members of your family, although her voice remains non mainstream. “Uh uh her” (2004) takes the revenge (for me) as it is a cunning album. From “White Chalk” her songs make a big turnover as keyboards take an important role in her compositions and her vocals are high- pitched and more playful in the way she sings. In “A woman a man walked by”, a cooperation with John Parish follows the same rules but with more experimentations and progress. The awarded for second time “Let England Shake” seems more folk, reminding us of fairy- tales. Her last album called “The Hopes Six Demolition Cover” (2016) is more marching and choral, giving the sense of a musical company. There, Pj Harvey has not lost her early madness. But I think what is missing is a little bit of her past naivety and rawness, things that are now replaced by an obvious maturity, turning to folk, fantastic and atmospheric themes that follow her after 2007.
Her lyric themes talk about devotion and need for love, in the search of companionship. Moreover, there are lyrics for the raw nature of a woman, and the difficulty in copying with it, something that is expressed in a sarcastic way. Other times PJ Harvey uses myths and fairy tales, revealing a need for religion. “Let England shake” is her only release talking about more political issues, but in a more social way). The most contradictory thing and at the same time the most natural is the fact that she manages to match her awkwardness with anything feminine “Must be a way that I can dress to please him/ It’s hard to walk in the dress/ It’s not easy/ I’m spinning over like a heavy loaded fruit tree” with a total submission to a man “Come in close.. and I’ ll wash your feet, with my hair I ‘d mop them dry” something that is covered by the woman’ s power “ Hey I’ m one big Queen../ Biggest Woman/ I could have ten sons. Ten gods ten queens/ ten foot and rising”. Although she was denying any feminist concerns, her audience has the last word.
Generally, she keeps a low profile. She declares that writing music is easier for her than talking and she doesn’t think that it is important for every person to know her real character. Other patterns that exist more often in her lyrics are: expiation through water «Holy water cannot help me now”, “Like a pain in the River../ to be washed away slow”, “No water well in sight”, a garden reminding of the Eden garden “The first tree will not blossom/ the third is almost fallen/ since you betrayed me so”, “The trees are trembling, there is no laughter in the garden”, “what is the glorious fruit of the land”. Her religious spirit is obvious in some lyrics as: « I am beggin Jesus, please send his love to me”, “Dear God, you better not let me down this time”. Besides, she claims that she prefers tripping with the Bible than doing any drugs.
To conclude with, her lyrics are simple as she is not using many words, though the incidents she describes are intense, but she writes them on a paper like taking simple notes.
I think that she shapes her songs like a sculptress (she thinks that sculpting is so natural an art), like getting inspiration from one or two words, sounds, ideas, shaping her music on them, trying to harness her voice, as if she could never reach a complete composition, with an unstoppable effort to control her work in order not to lose any shape, not willing to let herself to the myths and to the folk. She writes in a song that “You dance in circles all around me and all over the world” That reminds me of a sculpture that turns around itself during its formation.
In that continuous effort I always feel a suspension in her music. And I think that this is her hidden power, at least in her art: Her simplicity becomes reality by using a small comma, but all these stop as her voice is straightforward and her sound explosive. Some people would believe that this comma is the imaginary, as this makes the intensity of her music to stay away. Surely this also happens in other folk alternative British bands, but these groups are making it in the wrong way as sometimes they sound awkward. But Pj Harvey makes a small noise that might be covered by the fuss of the modern times, might wake you up as the adorable kitsch does, but it shakes us in a subtle way. Again, when she lets herself free, she does it as a child, in a sarcastic and messy way. However she manages, when someone presses the play, in the silent way of her effort, the way she sings and the way that this goes with her music to force the audience to feel surprise, interest, mad enthusiasm, silliness, and incomprehension.
I don’t know if I would recommend someone to listen to Pj Harvey, if he didn’t want to look at an empty space with his legs on a chair, beat a hammer on the floor to wake up the neighbors downstairs, dance without rhythm making funny faces in the mirror, or at least to accept the compulsiveness otherwise sensed in Nick Cave’s music.
Being like the naughty daughter of Patti Smith who hides her love in embroidery and sewing, Pj Harvey will be enjoyed by those who want to hear something unconventional in female vocals. In the end I would characterize her as one of the most important modern female rock vocalists. Because she tries without any effort, because she insists on the quality of her art, because she has a discreet personality that is covered by an intense artistic personality. PJ Harvey is a creator of picture, of music, of style, of ideas and at the same time a singer. The second is something that also Loreena McKennitt has. But the first needs something that PJ Harvey would describe with her movements in “Man- Size” videoclip.
