PJ Harvey
Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
04/09/2011
When the 2011 Mercury Prize shortlist was revealed, the fact that two previous winners had again been nominated was interpreted by some as the music industry’s way of admitting to a deficit of new talent currently sweeping the charts. While the continued acceptance of Elbow does support this theory, the simple truth is that PJ Harvey‘s ‘Let England Shake’ is unlikely to be bettered by anyone this year. A towering work from an artist of increasing relevance, no-one seems more aware of her achievement than Polly herself.
Barely addressing the audience all night, this Glasgow set finds Harvey confidently showcasing the record in its entirety, playing only a handful of oldies as a concession to an acclaimed back catalogue. The new material is sung in the eerily high register first heard on 2007′s ‘White Chalk’, while her provocative lyrics are set to simple, almost nursery rhyme melodies. Dimly lit, she and her band are dressed entirely in black and recede into shadows between songs. She may have made the most accessible album of her career, but Harvey remains as elusive a figure as ever, firmly establishing barriers between herself and the audience. Unable to connect with her, we can only admire her music from a distance.
If tonight’s performance has a flaw, it’s that it’s almost too perfect. A pair of drunk ladies try dancing in the aisle but are constantly thwarted by the music’s pristine presentation. While her band is often brilliantly measured, as on the haunting ‘England’ and ‘Hanging in the Wire’, their playing rarely catches fire when it seems as though it should. ‘The Colour of Earth’ is given a stomping backbeat, while single ‘The Words that Maketh Murder’ is beefed up by a powerful bass line, but the likes of ‘Bitter Branches’ are a little too close to the studio recordings and seem almost sterile as a result. Still, to see Harvey joined on stage by long-time collaborator John Parish and former Bad Seeds man Mick Harvey, is a joy, even if they occasionally tend towards slavishly recreating their masterpiece.
Lewis Porteous
