PJ Harvey - 'Uh Huh Her' (Universal-Island)
4/5
By: Toby L
Even seventh time in, Polly's got a cracker.
Swapping the Mercury Music Prize sass and production of her previous 'Stories From The City...' for a bluesy husk and abruptly engineered nasty bit of goods, Harvey has come up trumps with the slinky, bare bones of her latest, wonderfully titled 'Uh Huh Her'. Gone is the bordering-on coffee-table crossover zeal 'n' appeal (which we still adored) - and in comes a Kills-y, snarling PJ, ready to dethrone garage-rock in spectacularly sultry, sexy fashion.
Yes, let's admit it; foxiness doesn't come more assuredly commanding than Polly Jean. She's a feisty thing, alright, but she's dangerous - or, more specifically, she can spot danger. 'Your lips taste like poison,' she rasps on the glorious opener - and highlight - 'The Life & Death Of Mr Badmouth', and you don't dispute it when Ms Thang says so.
Fittingly to such urgency, songs are short and concentrated - that this is a lean record is not in question. 'Shame' is a mere melodica-doused clunk, 'Who The F**k' a desperate, distorted and vicious stomp, 'The Pocket Knife' utilises a basic tambourine underpinning and skinny guitars, while top-20 launch-single 'The Letter' is restrained in its yearning, potential Radiohead-esque expanse.
It's a beguiling display, drenched in much of the raw passion and gusto of her '4-Track Demos' collection from some years back; in 'Uh Huh Her''s lack of padding comes its direct hit: every track is vital, every note an inspired, intense, calm revelation. In 'The Slow Drug', we hear PJ Harvey harmonising with herself, to a mere backdrop of just a couple of notes, while the folky proclamation of PJ's 'No Child Of Mine' lasts but 70 seconds, perhaps defining this new batch quite succinctly - when the point's made, don't linger; just take a bow and make a quietly aggressive exit.
Of our remainder, 'Cat On The Wall' is a fat, growling rock 'n' roll sludge-mess, 'It's You' a piano-boasting mood-a-thon, 'The End' a scratchy violin-piece, and the closing 'The Darker Days Of Me & Him' a drippingly intoxicating, slumbering finale, with its 'American Beauty' lost soul and wrenched woe ('You taught me a lesson I didn't want to learn.').
In stripping herself of the comfort of fancy producers, multi-instrumentalists and - quite possibly - the mainstream half-fans that artists of her stature inevitably attract, Polly Jean Harvey has proven herself - via 'Uh Huh Her' - at her most intimate and revealing yet. And it's beautiful; quite beautiful.
Artists in this article: PJ Harvey
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