Music Review: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
It’s a rarity that an album debuts and commands with such immediacy that you give yourself so completely to the narrative. Rarer still one that flourishes on the ear with a timeless quality you’d be forgiven for thinking this as one of your favourites from the back of the shelf.
A departure from her other, more introverted works, Let England Shake’ is PJ Harvey’s unashamed commentary on the many stigmas of war, it’s connotations that paint a landscape as vivid as if it were on canvas, and how we as a nation have been and continue to be marred by the brazen brushstrokes of those who declare action.
The record is less a concept album than it is a reality, stark and bleak. Evocative and nonchalant in its imagery, it’s apt resonance with current affairs eerily grounds the theme in the here and now. “I’ve seen soldiers fall like lumps of meat/blown and shot out beyond belief.” Make no mistake, while parallels are bound to be and are supposed to be drawn to the state of modern warfare, this dressing down applies to no sole conflict, rather encapsulating the the word proper – “war”.
This faceless quality is a constant throughout, denoting the actions and loss of the countless men and women who have fallen in the name of the country that they love and long to return to. “To you, England, I cling, undaunted/never failing love for you/England.” It’s through this apparent lack of bond that allows for genuine emotional connections to be made, which is in no doubt part and parcel of the genius of the album.
Harvey’s stance is unapologetic, brave enough to speak out and be so bold as to dare to lay blame to the West. “What is the glorious fruit of our land?/Its fruit is deformed children.” This isn’t reinvention, this is revolution.
“Let England Shake” is nothing short of astounding; set to a hauntingly ethereal arrangement, with vocal and lyrical mastery delivered in the understated aplomb for which the albums’ country in name is renowned for.
“Let England Shake” is available to buy and download now.
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