PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project, review: ‘as powerful as ever’

The British singer’s latest album is just one part of a wider project – but still urgent and evocative
Eclectic: PJ Harvey's new album charts her travels in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC
MARIA MOCHNACZ
Andre Paine15 April 2016

Five years on from her masterpiece Let England Shake, PJ Harvey has returned with an album documenting her travels alongside photographer Seamus Murphy in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC.

PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project

It was recorded behind one-way glass during an exhibition at Somerset House (a brave yet thoroughly boring experiment). Her political lyrics and anti-war agenda may seem familiar, but this time there’s an eclectic, global sound enriched by field recordings.

The Community of Hope is a stomping tune alleging social cleansing in the US capital, while the discordant jazz of The Ministry of Social Affairs was inspired by a derelict government building in Kabul.

You have to admire her fearless frontline reporting, but the album – accompanying a film, poetry and photography – feels like part of a whole.

Harvey’s urgent, evocative songs are as powerful as ever, though.

(Island)

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