PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 23.10.2000
"The way I sing about sexuality is much more open. There's a fairly positive energy. It energizes me to listen to it. I've never had an album like this before, one that can change my mood and make me feel I'm in a good mood. Everything on the album strikes me in a positive way. Even the dirty songs."
In the early 2000s, Polly Jean Harvey felt a sense of relief. After the success of her third album, "To Bring You My Love", came what she called her low period, and after it she began composing her fourth album, "Is This Desire?", which was accompanied by a change in her musical style as she incorporated electronic music.
That experiment ended after a single album and a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance, for 1998.
Harvey traveled to New York to fulfill a small dream of hers. For nine months at the turn of the millennium she lived in the "Big Apple" and simply soaked up the city. That led to the writing of several New York-inspired songs that would adorn her fifth album, "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea", released on October 23, 2000.
Her romance with New York began while she was filming a movie in New York as an actress for Hal Hartley. She drew inspiration from the city and wrote several songs, some of which would make their way onto her next album.
Despite Polly Jean's intense love of the city, she insisted on declaring that "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" is not her New York album.
Songs were also written during her time in London and at her home in Dorset. The album was co-produced by Mick Harvey (of "The Birthday Party"), Rob Ellis and Polly Jean, and mixed by Victor Van Vugt. It included a duet with the "Radiohead" frontman, Thom Yorke, on "This Mess We're In", as well as backing vocals and keyboards by Yorke on "One Line" and "Beautiful Feeling".
She met Yorke in 1992 and they stayed in touch. Polly Jean said: "I liked the idea of someone else singing a song on my album, so that they could bring a very different dimension through their distinctive voice. It adds so much dynamic to the album to have another character sharing the vocal duties with me."
PJ wrote the album while moving between London and New York, swept up between the intimacy of her personal life and the hustle of the city. It is an album of contrasts: between city and sea, between emotional power and momentary calm, between Harvey's exposed voice, which at times recalls that of Patti Smith, and precise, rich musical production.
Harvey focused herself with all her might on positivity, which is clearly felt, with songs that celebrate love and hope. That doesn't mean the whole album is positive. Harvey also brings stories of violence and corruption into the narrative and explores the many dichotomies of life.
Joe Gore, who played in the past with Tom Waits and was brought in for the recordings of "To Bring You My Love", believes that "every album has a theme", and Polly Jean reminds him of Tom Waits: a musician with a personal signature in the classic sense.
The first song, "Big Exit", juxtaposes urban paranoia with carefree love, as Harvey comments on the gun violence she was exposed to during her visit to New York. Harvey paints a picture full of doom. Still, she declares later on that there is hope.
In "Good Fortune" Harvey sings over a steady beat, her voice soaring and at times sounding remarkably like that of Chrissie Hynde of "The Pretenders". It is an intoxicating song, and you can't help finding yourself singing along with the wonderful singer who infects you with her endless optimism.
In "One Line" Harvey wants to protect herself and her lover from the horror of the outside world. She sings that the world is heading to war, and that tonight all she needs is him.
The singer's voice continues to shine on "Beautiful Feeling", a dark song lifted by the backing vocals of Thom Yorke. With a sparse electric guitar providing the only accompaniment to their two voices, their singing becomes another instrument.
Songs like "You Said Something" shine a full-moon light on Harvey's storytelling skills. You can almost picture the singer and her lover on a Manhattan rooftop, the city lights glowing above them in the dark of night. By describing the scene in minute detail, Harvey freezes a moment of pure love and pleasure in time and enhances the memory through sights and sounds.
Love continues to blossom in the song "This Is Love", driven by guitars. Harvey, so in love with her lover, cannot understand why life has to be "so complicated" when all she wants to do is sit here and watch him undress.
The album became the second-biggest commercial success of her career, and upon its release it won praise from most music critics and earned Harvey numerous awards, including the 2001 Mercury Prize.
Harvey admitted to Mojo magazine in January 2008 that, in retrospect, the album didn't satisfy her. "I felt as though I'd got lost around this album. I wanted to try to write lots of perfect pop songs. It's great to set yourself projects, but they have to connect to your heart and soul. Pop music is not where my heart lies."
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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