There are many idiosyncratic icon types in the cannon of British rock and roll. It breed crazy, but none quite so special as one Polly Jean Harvey.
The thing about PJ Harvey has always been the stylistic change and the inability to sit still, some easily defined by the transition both sonically and visually between her first album, Dry and her most recent release, Let England Shake.
Harvey invited photographer Seamus Murphy to collaborate with her on Let England Shake after seeing his photographs of Afghanistan at an exhibition in London. The end result was a series of 12 films, a visual documentation as it were, of one Harvey’s most distinct visions to date.
While you can see the films on Youtube, you’re really best served seeing them in the theatre, as the 12 film package does a run of international film festivals over the next while. Let England shake is one of Harvey’s most distinctly English records to date and Murphy nails the thematic vein perfectly. Olde England meets new England in all its darkest heart. Equally as brutal and austere as it is enthralling, Murphy’s really captures the grind and the grime of Harvey’s record.
Anyone can do a pop video for MTV, this set is far beyond that, taking the idea of a multi-media extravaganza to new, organic heights.