 PJ Harvey
Stories From The City,
Stories From The Sea
CD
Review by Norm Elrod
There’s a
lot of talk about PJ Harvey’s latest Stories
From The City, Stories From The Sea being
her New York album. Let’s dispel that notion
right now. Her six-month stay in the city may
have influenced many of the songs heard here, but
they hardly slice off a piece of the Big Apple.
Nor is that really the goal. The best work
composed with New York as it’s subject or
backdrop doesn’t view it with awestruck
eyes. The city flows through the veins of its
best songwriters (Lou Reed, Freedy Johnston, Dean
Wareham, etc.) and into their music. They live it
every day. So it’s really no surprise that Harvey’s visit didn’t
allow her to capture this vibe to the extent
she’s capable. What more evidence do we need
than album cover photos taken in Times Square,
where only tourists go?
That being said
(and it’s been bothering me with each listen
and each article I read), Stories may
just be Harvey’s most stunning
release, in a career of stunning releases. In
short supply are the angry dirges and banshee
wails. Cue the glorious melodies and (gasp!) the
occasional message of hope. Our little Polly Jean
is in love, or at least she’s made an album
as though she were.
Opener "Big
Exit," complete with late 80s style U2 guitar licks and echo
laden vocals, is our first clue that
something’s a little different this time
around. Filled with aggression, especially for a
track one, it lacks the spite that’s often
part and parcel of Harvey's work. It also
introduces us to a Harvey who’s realized she
need not poison every spoonful of sugar she
dishes out. With thicker harmonies and a more
precious melody, "A Place Called Home"
could almost be a Sarah McLachlan song. And I
mean that in a good way. Radiohead's Thom Yorke lends his strangely
beautiful and complementary vocals on three
tracks, including the minimal and haunting
"Beautiful Feeling" and what amounts to
a lead turn on the OK Computer style "This Mess
Were In." Particularly on the latter, these
two artists, both in touch with their alienation,
manage to subtly convey the distance in even the
most intimate of relationships.
 "You Said
Something," alluding to a particularly
poignant moment that’s never actually
revealed, may be the most immediately engaging
track here. And while it screams crossover single
(Mix stations, VH1, and coming of age in the city
type TV shows starring Jennifer Love Hewitt), the
obvious New York City references are irksome.
Lines like "On a rooftop in Brooklyn, one in
the morning, watching the lights flash in
Manhattan," amount to a postcard view of the
city that never sleeps. Still her lyrics can cut
like a rusty blade. "Speak to me of heroin
and speed, of genocide and suicide, syphilis and
greed. Speak to me the language of love, the
language of violence, the language of the
heart." If "The Whores Hustle And The
Hustlers Whore" is the snarl of a fallen
angel with scraped up knees, then "This Is
Love" is her twisted admission of
vulnerability. "I can’t believe
life’s so complex, when I just wanna’
sit here and watch you undress. This is love that
I’m feeling." Maybe it’s not quite
love in the dove white, rose petal, Lilith Fair
sense, but it’s a far cry from wanting
Robert De Niro to sit on her face. Harvey closes the album with a
rare show of acceptance in the face of a failing
romance. "We Float" fades out with the
simple words of wisdom "take life as it
comes."
While her New
York visit doesn’t infuse the songs here
with the perspective of a seasoned local, the
city has obviously affected her outlook on life.
Though I wouldn’t look for a cover of
"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’
Groovy)" anytime soon. Simply put, Harvey has seen the light at
the end of the Lincoln tunnel, and she’s
racing ahead. Let’s just hope it’s
approaching dawn but not yet the morning rush
hour.
Email Norm Elrod
PJ Harvey Video
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