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PJ Harvey

There's often this geeky sense of pride among music fans when they are the first to introduce a particular artist to their circle of friends. I've had two notable examples in my teenage years (nowadays no one cares about who I "discover" as all my friends have given up hope on me and my musical tastes): one of them was The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the second, you guessed it: PJ Harvey. It was after midnight back in '93, I'm watching the late night alternative music show on Musique Plus when they put on the video for Harvey's Dress and I'm floored! This didn't sound like anything that was being made back then. The music was quite aggressive, very sensual and I got so caught up into the song that it gave me shivers. I remember buying both Dry and Rid Of Me on tape during a trip to Plattsburg, USA with my parents. I think I listened to both these cassettes so often they wound up disintegrating in my tape deck. Surprisingly enough, it took another couple of years (read: the release of To Bring You My Love) before my friends would appreciate her as much as I did.

So what is it about the music that made me so enamored with Polly Jean in the first place? Part of me believes it's the fact that she was the most interesting female artist to use the loud/quiet dynamic that popular alternative artists like Pixies or Nirvana had perfected around the same time. Another part of me believes it's how daring this music is. Harvey addresses classic feminist themes with great care yet she tackles them without overdoing it or playing the victim. I also appreciate how stripped down the music often sounds and how unafraid she is to try different things. Her two first albums might be quite similar, but from then on, nothing was ever going to be the same and although the results are sometimes uneven, they are always spectacular and very personal.

I also remember how she was always mentioned along two other very famous female artists at the time: Tori Amos (can't stand) and Björk. Although I'm a huge fan of the islandic sprite, I've always considered Harvey to be the most fascinating and interesting of the three. I even used to try and get everything she would put out, including singles, rare promo stuff, but I gave up pretty quick when came time to move to Sweden in 2003. Ever since my return to Montreal (and a new girlfriend who just happened to own Dry and sparked my interest once again) I've tried to get them back one by one.

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