PJ Harvey needs no introduction. But if you really want one, then go check out the introduction in this cool story. Or Wikipedia.
PJ Harvey is as cool a musician as they come. And her album, Let England Shake, is one of the coolest albums of last year. We managed to get time with her in Melbourne, and here’s what she had to say.
(Thanks to Universal Music and Balvinder Sandhu for arranging, conducting and transcribing the interview.)
Tell us more about your last album, Let England Shake.
I wanted to write an album that dealt with war and conflict and the idea of nationhood. I’ve been wanting to write that for many years, and I tried and failed in many of the last ten years. I think it’s a very difficult thing to discuss and get the balance right, certainly in the framework of a song, so I had to tread very carefully.
It was only really in the last four years when I began to try and write around this subject matter again that I finally felt like I was getting somewhere, that it was beginning to work, and I think that was because I was a bit more knowledgeable as a writer. I’d been writing for a longer period of time and I’d gained a better use of language.
I think it’s a very fine balance, if you’re talking about political, sociological subject matter. It’s easy to tip into what I would call dogmatic protest song, which I didn’t want to do. I wanted to maintain a certain degree of ambiguity to the lyrics and to leave a lot of room for the listener to enter and make up their own mind about things. So I think that’s why this album has happened now really because I had finally reached a place of writing that had a better skill to try to tackle this subject matter.
How do you manage to stay honest in your songs without being preachy?
I think I’m quite a harsh critic of my own work so I relied on that. I certainly knew when something wasn’t working but I didn’t always know how to make it work. I didn’t know how to suddenly write a song that was in the right balance, it was through trial and error. I had to write a lot of things that I knew were wrong before I could find out what was right.
Let England Shake has been named as album of the year by many music publications. How do you feel about that?
It’s wonderful. It makes me very happy, to have this recognition of many different bodies thinking that an album like this is worth giving an accolade such as album of the year. It pleases me, delights me no end, because I really just tried to follow my heart and do what was most urgent for me to do as a writer at the time. And I realised long ago that you can never presuppose or guess what other people will think of that.
I knew that, with Let England Shake, I had achieved what I had set out to do, but whether other people would like that or not I had no idea, so it’s a surprise, a very welcome one, that this album has resonated with other people as well.
The album also won you the Mercury Prize, making you the only artiste to have won it twice. How does that make you feel?
It’s a wonderful feeling to have won the Mercury Prize not once but twice, it’s a great honour and something I’ll never forget. Working as an artist, it’s a very solitary occupation, you need a lot of time alone to think, to write, to create, and often you can lose perspective of what other people will make of that. I mean, ultimately, I want to make work to present to the outside world so when in that presentation it’s recognised and enjoyed and people are grateful for that piece of work, it’s the best reward that you can have.
Does that put any pressure on you, that your next album has to be better?
Being my own hardest critic, I just follow my gut instinct and I always have done. There’s nothing else I can do really. If I tried to manipulate myself into exploring or writing about a subject that I wasn’t genuinely feeling passionately drawn to, I just don’t think I could write something of any strength.
The Guardian has described you as “a cultural treasure”. Any thoughts on that?
Obviously I take that as quite a flattering comment and I welcome it. To feel part of the cultural landscape, particularly from your country of origin, I find it very strengthening, very honouring. If I become part of that landscape for younger people, for people coming through now, then that’s a wonderful thing. It makes me very happy and if I can give something back, if I can inspire people in some way, then that’s the ultimate reward.
What is the most English thing about you?
It’s very hard to tell what makes us of the land we are born into. There are so many times when I feel ashamed of being English, because of what my country is doing in the greater scheme of things in the world. But, at the same time, I can’t extricate myself from that, being born on English soil and I feel inherently an English woman.
At the same time, I feel very connected to what’s going on in other parts of the world and I get very moved by what’s happening and want to be part of that too. And that push and pull, that constant friction interests me a lot. I feel a part of England whether I like it or not
Let England Shake has a war theme. With what’s going on in the world right now, will this continue for your next piece of work?
I really don’t know at this stage. When I’ve finished a big body of work it takes me quite a few months before I know where I’m heading next. At this current moment in time, I do feel very concerned about what’s happening in the world in a way that I would like to try and articulate that. So often, I think many of us feel that we don’t have a voice and how on earth can we be heard. I feel very lucky that I have a voice through music and at the moment that gives me a great desire to try and use that in a worthwhile way.
Do you believe that music can change the world?
I think there have been moments in history when that has seemed possible, for instance, in the early ’60s, during the Vietnam war, the black movement in America… I hesitate to say whether I felt that’s still the case now.
I think communication has changed so much, I don’t know if music can ever gain that weight again, or whether the art world could, I really hope that it can, and maybe it will. At the moment, the most vibrant form of expression actually is in marching and protests, as we’ve seen, that seems to be the way the energy is being channelled.
You also paint as well as write poetry and prose. Is music still your biggest passion?
I think inherently I feel drawn to songwriting. I have a great desire to sing and stand on a stage and use my voice and put music with that, more than I have to sit at a desk and write a page of words. I have this need to perform; I’ve found a great strength in that, a great side that I don’t think I want to be leaving.
Have you ever had a Spinal Tap moment on tour?
Oh there’s been many! That’s why the film Spinal Tap is so perfect, there are so many times when it’s so spot on. I mean, an easy example would be the amount of performing spaces that you walk into and get lost backstage. So many times we’re actually trying to find the stage, to go on stage, and not being able to find it.
How different is PJ Harvey the artist to Polly Jean Harvey the person?
I think in the same way that anybody’s work is different to how they conduct themselves at home, yes there’s a difference. I’m sure that when everybody leaves home to go to their work every day, they leave a certain part of themselves behind. When you go out into the public domain you have to have a degree of protection so there’s that difference, but I don’t think that’s any different to how I see my friends going about their work life.
What’s your secret for lasting so long in the industry?
I really think the key for me is staying honest to where I’m led as an artist, staying true to that and not getting swayed by any outside influences. Not getting swayed by a general tide that seems to be happening but just follow my heart and honour that. That can be a very difficult thing to do, sometimes it goes right against the grain.
What’s the strangest place you’ve had an idea for a song or a lyric?
I don’t know about the strangest place but I think the most dangerous time is when I’m driving. I think, often, when you switch off the creative part of the brain and you’re doing something quite practical, a lot of answers to creative problems will come. It’s very often that I’m reaching for notepads or Dictaphones when I’m driving and it’s not the ideal time. [laughs]
What are some of the albums or artists that you’ve been listening to?
I’ve been almost exclusively listening to Neil Young actually. A lot of his early work, the time he first went solo, his first three solo albums. Also Crosby Stills Nash and Young, that’s given me the most nourishment, I would say.
What’s the album or piece of work that you’re most proud of?
I don’t know if I could say one particular album I’m more pleased with than others. I certainly feel like Rid Of Me and To Bring You My Love and Let England Shake were moments of great change and very difficult records to make. And they were all forks in the road, if you like, where I made quite a different turn creatively. I feel very proud of those records for that.
What would you like the PJ Harvey legacy to be?
I would like to leave something worthwhile behind. I’d like to feel that I’ve made or created something that somebody would still want to look at or listen to and would give them strength in years to come. That will be very fulfilling to me, if I felt that that could still be of service to people when I’m dead and gone.
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