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Feature: Jack Foley
UH HUH Her, the new release from PJ Harvey, marks the
seventh album from the talented artist, and the keenly-anticipated
follow-up to the hugely successful Stories From The City, Stories
From The Sea, which won the 2001 Mercury Music Prize.
After a Summer of live dates - including appearances at V2003,
the V Festival, the Eden Project and the first rock concert at
Tate Modern – Harvey put the finishing touches to finished
work on the new record in the Autumn of 2003.
The album was written, performed, recorded, mixed and produced
by Harvey, who also chose Rob Ellis, a long-time collaborator,
to contribute drums and percussion. Multi-instrumentalist, Harvey,
played everything else.
From the outset, PJ Harvey has commanded attention.
Polly Jean Harvey formed the bass/drums/guitar trio in 1991 in
Dorset and by autumn had released the debut single, Dress, on
indie label, Too Pure.
With a second single, Sheela-Na-Gig, in February 1992,
Harvey had begun an impressive critical climb, which set the stage
for a highly-anticipated album release the following month.
Dry was hailed as an astonishing debut, not just in the UK but
world-wide, and especially in the United States, where Rolling
Stone named Harvey Best Songwriter and Best New Female Singer.
In 1993, PJ Harvey signed to Island Records and began work on
a follow-up album. The band went into the studio with Steve Albini,
in Minneapolis, and the resulting album, Rid Of Me, was
released in early '93.
The album was supported by a lengthy world tour, drawing increasingly
wide audiences and Harvey’s first Mercury Prize nomination.
However, by the end of the tour, Polly made the decision to dissolve
the original trio and explore working with other musicians.
The album, 4-Track Demos, was released in the Autumn of 1993,
which comprised of 14 songs, a mixture of unreleased material,
and Harvey’s own demos for Rid Of Me.
To Bring You My Love followed in 1995, an eclectic and
starkly original album. She enlisted a variety of musicians to
play on the album, including John Parish (who co-produced, along
with Flood and Harvey), keyboardist, Eric Drew Feldman, and guitarist,
Joe Gore.
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The tour which followed saw Harvey explore a theatrical edge
to her live performance. She received her second nomination for
the Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for two Grammies, received
'1995 Artist Of The Year' awards from Rolling Stone and Spin,
and gained album of the year acknowledgements across the board.
Recording her fifth album, Is This Desire?, in London
and Dorset, Harvey once again co-produced the album with Flood
and once again worked with Rob Ellis, from the original P J Harvey
line-up.
It was released in September '98 and featured 12 new tracks,
attracting plaudits on both sides of the Atlantic and gaining
nominations for The Brits and The Grammy Awards.
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, the much
anticipated follow-up to Is This Desire? was released in
October 2000. The album, produced and performed by P J Harvey,
Rob Ellis and Mick Harvey, picked up the Mercury Music Prize,
in 2001, the first album by a female artist to win the award.
Described by the NME as ‘a magnificent, life-affirming opus’
Stories… was supported by a lengthy, world-wide sell-out
tour.
Extra-curricular projects include soundtrack work on Basquiat,
Stella Does Tricks, The Cradle Will Rock and Six
Feet Under, as well as an appearance as Mary Magdalene in
Hal Hartley movie, The Book Of Life.
In 1996, she worked with John Parish on the album, Dance Hall
At Louse Point, where her words accompanied the music of John
Parish, for both the album and a live accompaniment to the Mark
Bruce Dance Company production of the same name.
She has collaborated with an extraordinary range of musicians,
duetting with Nick Cave, Tricky, How Gelb of Giant Sand, Pascal
Comelade, Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes and appearing on Sparklehorse
album, It’s A Wonderful Life.
Most recently, she joined Queen’s of the Stoneage’s
Josh Homme on his critically-acclaimed Desert Sessions
project – released last year – and worked with Mark
Lanegan (also of QOSTA) on his forthcoming solo album.
Harvey produced the debut album by American artist, Tiffany Anders,
and has most recently written, recorded and produced material
for Marianne Faithfull’s next album, due for release later
this year.
In addition to her musical career, Harvey has exhibited sculpture
in galleries across the country and has had poetry published.
Uh Huh Her looks set to continue that success story well
into 2004…
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