Polly Jean Harvey is slowly but surely creating a name for herself in America. Touring in support of U2's "Elevation Tour" is starting to show results for the English singer. Keeping up with the great female rock acts of today, P.J. Harvey's music features sultry vocals, great musicianship, and meaningful lyrics. "Stories..." should prove to be the great break-out release in America for this underappreciated artist.
For the sound on "Stories...", Harvey relies on a minimilistic approach to sound and recording. Featuring herself on vocals and guitar, Harvey is backed up simply by bass guitar and drums on most tracks. This style can best be heard on "A Place Called Home". Smooth guitar accented by light percussion helps to balance out the dreamy vocal style. Where Harvey's voice is light and delicate on "A Place Called Home", she approaches "Big Exit" in a more aggresive manner. The musical style is much the same, but her vocals become more urgent in nature. Harvey sings about the chaos surrounding the violent nature of today's society: "I'm scared baby, I wanna run. This world's crazy, gimme the gun.". I'm very much reminded of Patti Smith's punk-like attitude and sound when hearing this song. Harvey rocks hard on "Kamikaze" while "Beautiful Feeling" reminds me of an early Liz Phair tune. Featuring dark vocals accompanied by just her guitar, Harvey shows off more of a folky and artistic side of herself here. "Horses in My Dreams" is a vaguely-written song that could easily be featured on one of Bork's albums. Beatlesque piano starts off the slow tune that builds up to a jazzy a beautiful ending. Many of the tracks on "Stories..." are quite dark in nature. The final tune, "We Float", finishes the cd on a more positive note. Double tracked piano and the same tube percussion sound that's a staple on this release finds its way brilliantly here. She refers to past success and "excesses", but now sounds fairly well grounded and is willing to "take life as it comes". A song like this proves how refreshing it is to listen to honest and intelligently written music.
P.J. Harvey's music is probably more of an acquired taste. I'm only familiar with one other release of hers, 1995's "To Bring You My Love", and the dark nature of her songwriting might not be too accesible to everyone. But, if you are looking for a well produced cd from an exciting artist, it's worth checking out. I'm sure that "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" will win plenty of awards from the more popular music magazines; including Rolling Stone and Spin.
