Thursday, August 05, 2004
PJ Harvey
Uh Huh Her
PJ Harvey’s Uh Huh Her’s album cover sleeve and linear notes is a work of pop art. Pictures of herself in various facial close ups with scraps of handwritten sentences.
- Light sounding. Take it right away from rock. But still reels balks
- de – pompous the fake pizz strings
- if struggling with a song, drop out the thing you like the most
- do a version not swearing?
Do a version not swearing? Not Harvey.
You see, the thing with Uh Huh Her is that it is an album reeling with so much hurt and anger that portrays PJ Harvey as a whiny singer songwriter. It would be difficult for any other singers to carry it off but she does it so mesmerizingly truthful and cool, going into the extremes deep; and into the valley of those emotions that it becomes fuzzy to recognize the girl she is singing of in her songs.
The harder songs such as, The life & Death of Mr BadMouth, “Baby you’ve got a bad bad mouth, everything is poison that’s coming out, cheating lying since the day you were born, someone outta rinse it out of with soap”; Shame, “Shame is the shadow of love… tried to go forward with my life, I just feel shame shame shame”; and Who the fuck, “who the fuck do you think you are, get the fuck out of my hair?” sees her cranking up the volume and repeating the obscenities. In doing so, she creates a crescendoe, a momentum, a ritual of exorcism.
By the time she sings “The Pocket Knife” which has a more coherent sense of lyrical rambling, and an accompanying tambourine, “You can’t make me be a wife, how the world just turns and turns, how does anybody learn”; the albums’ most accomplished song and lyrics, one is almost tempted to believe that she would keep the beat and rhythm going.
Yet, the next song, the letter, a series of action-oriented suggestive prose with a rock pose “put the pen , to the paper, press the envelope, with my scent… it turns me on, to imagine, your blue eyes…” confuses the listener.
Harvey’s Uh Huh Her is full of surprises because the memorable tracks tends to oscillate wildly in forms and style.
The Slow Drug is a meandering ballad of double synth tugging along with a toned down Harvey that is as poetic as The Pocket Knife, “See this winged boy falling, falling out of something, hits the drug I’m needing”. It hooks you up easily.
Compare that to another outstanding track, no child of mine, a less than 3 minute acoustic track, where she does a quick casual patti smith, so suave, the lyrics don’t matter.
The Desperate Kingdom of Love, another acoustic track, retains the low key whisper of Harvey with minor keys strumming through pessimistic prose, “Oh Love, you were a sickly child, and how the wind knocked you down… I learn from you how to hide, the desperate kingdom of love”
In keepance with the chuggy bass strings dragging, It’s you, a drunken stupor, Harvey mocks up her best love forlorn voice, “When I’m not with you, my dreams are so very dark…”
The darker days of me and him binds the crippled Harvey with a toned down arrangement, “Promises, promises, I’m feeling burned… Limp this love around”
In contrast, more mid-tempo stuff like the Cat on the wall recalls the after effects of a break up, “take a walk, I’m gonna clear my mind, the radio, still playing our song” or You come through has the “ang glong” sound like music with lifted lyrics, “ I’ll be lifted, on this holiday, I’ll take you my friend, I’ll take you with me” are more radio-friendly fodder that gives it more listenability.
Uh Huh Her is full of lucid ratty ramblings of psychological hurt. Classic bitch on life. In a sense, it is a concept album. The concept of what is hurt. How to fuck that hurt that hurts you.
Do a version not swearing? You kidding!
Uh Huh Her
PJ Harvey’s Uh Huh Her’s album cover sleeve and linear notes is a work of pop art. Pictures of herself in various facial close ups with scraps of handwritten sentences.
- Light sounding. Take it right away from rock. But still reels balks
- de – pompous the fake pizz strings
- if struggling with a song, drop out the thing you like the most
- do a version not swearing?
Do a version not swearing? Not Harvey.
You see, the thing with Uh Huh Her is that it is an album reeling with so much hurt and anger that portrays PJ Harvey as a whiny singer songwriter. It would be difficult for any other singers to carry it off but she does it so mesmerizingly truthful and cool, going into the extremes deep; and into the valley of those emotions that it becomes fuzzy to recognize the girl she is singing of in her songs.
The harder songs such as, The life & Death of Mr BadMouth, “Baby you’ve got a bad bad mouth, everything is poison that’s coming out, cheating lying since the day you were born, someone outta rinse it out of with soap”; Shame, “Shame is the shadow of love… tried to go forward with my life, I just feel shame shame shame”; and Who the fuck, “who the fuck do you think you are, get the fuck out of my hair?” sees her cranking up the volume and repeating the obscenities. In doing so, she creates a crescendoe, a momentum, a ritual of exorcism.
By the time she sings “The Pocket Knife” which has a more coherent sense of lyrical rambling, and an accompanying tambourine, “You can’t make me be a wife, how the world just turns and turns, how does anybody learn”; the albums’ most accomplished song and lyrics, one is almost tempted to believe that she would keep the beat and rhythm going.
Yet, the next song, the letter, a series of action-oriented suggestive prose with a rock pose “put the pen , to the paper, press the envelope, with my scent… it turns me on, to imagine, your blue eyes…” confuses the listener.
Harvey’s Uh Huh Her is full of surprises because the memorable tracks tends to oscillate wildly in forms and style.
The Slow Drug is a meandering ballad of double synth tugging along with a toned down Harvey that is as poetic as The Pocket Knife, “See this winged boy falling, falling out of something, hits the drug I’m needing”. It hooks you up easily.
Compare that to another outstanding track, no child of mine, a less than 3 minute acoustic track, where she does a quick casual patti smith, so suave, the lyrics don’t matter.
The Desperate Kingdom of Love, another acoustic track, retains the low key whisper of Harvey with minor keys strumming through pessimistic prose, “Oh Love, you were a sickly child, and how the wind knocked you down… I learn from you how to hide, the desperate kingdom of love”
In keepance with the chuggy bass strings dragging, It’s you, a drunken stupor, Harvey mocks up her best love forlorn voice, “When I’m not with you, my dreams are so very dark…”
The darker days of me and him binds the crippled Harvey with a toned down arrangement, “Promises, promises, I’m feeling burned… Limp this love around”
In contrast, more mid-tempo stuff like the Cat on the wall recalls the after effects of a break up, “take a walk, I’m gonna clear my mind, the radio, still playing our song” or You come through has the “ang glong” sound like music with lifted lyrics, “ I’ll be lifted, on this holiday, I’ll take you my friend, I’ll take you with me” are more radio-friendly fodder that gives it more listenability.
Uh Huh Her is full of lucid ratty ramblings of psychological hurt. Classic bitch on life. In a sense, it is a concept album. The concept of what is hurt. How to fuck that hurt that hurts you.
Do a version not swearing? You kidding!
