Between poetry and music: the Englishwoman blurs the boundaries in her minimal folk, which offers a chance to escape from the horror of the world out there without making you forget the horror.
PJ Harvey fans know what patience means: When the Brit released her last studio album THE HOPE SIX DEMOLITION PROJECT in 2016, Brexit was still a crazy idea that would certainly have been resolved after the referendum, a Trump presidency was still a joke on late night shows. And there were always longer intervals between her previous albums – but she never stayed idle: just last year Harvey not only published a book of poetry, but also, for the first time in more than twenty years of her music career, a compilation of all her B-sides and non-album tracks .
And now: their tenth album. Such a round number naturally invites you to commit it somehow. Even if the celebration consists of radical renunciation. The title, which whispers of the old year and death, already suggests it: this is a small death. But also: rebirth. Following the last albums that turned to the world, I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING is a retreat into the interior, into the minimal, into village-like dream worlds, which she also created in “Orlam”, the epic poetry book from last year. Including sheep mowing in the background (“Seem An I”) or distorted birdsong and bee buzzing (“A Noiseless Noise”).
Is this another album or the sequel to your book of poetry?
Together with old synth sounds and PJ Harvey’s raw, direct, sometimes sympathetically crooked (“Autumn Term”), then again fairy-like clear (“All Souls”) voice, it all evokes an intangible, melancholic nostalgia. However, a nostalgia that longs for some other-worldly place. Maybe it’s PJ Harvey’s home planet? Maybe, after all, the songs on the new album are supposed to represent “a resting space”, says Harvey – that in English this could mean both a comforting place to linger and a cemetery is certainly no coincidence.
And also not that the dark colors of the sound spectrum come into play already in the first track “Prayer At The Gate”. And she already sings about death in the first line, albeit that of childhood. Childhood and its loss is a recurring theme on I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING, as is Elvis, whose “Love Me Tender” she repeatedly quotes, from the ethereal “Lonesome Tonight” to the synth-heavy meditation “All Souls” to to the indie rock tune “A Child’s Question, August”, embedded in enigmatic stories in Dorset dialect, rich descriptions of nature, the changing of the seasons, forests and meadows.
Is this another album or the sequel to your book of poetry? The lines between art forms seem to blur with PJ Harvey. With her tenth album, again collaborating with longtime collaborators John Parish and Flood, she creates a shadowy world to tell us about. Exactly what can only be guessed at. But what matters is the vibe she creates here. In fact – a place of retreat and consolation, but one that doesn’t do without tension, without mysteries, without unrest. I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING offers escapism from the horrors of the world out there. Still, PJ Harvey won’t let us forget her.