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It’s interesting to read some of the reactions to these two performances so far – all with their own validity, of course – and I want to add my own.
First off, this wasn’t a PJ Harvey concert! This was part of the South Bank’s London Literary Festival, and the focus was about the amazing collaborative book of poems and images by PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy, The Hollow Of The Hand. To have an expectation that this was going to be a gig would have left you with disappointment. To come anticipating a new artistic direction from one of music’s artistic chameleons, however, you would, I think, have had a profound experience.
I attended the second night’s performance and one or two comments above suggest this was the better of the two. I must admit to being a bit giddy when signs went up indicating the performance was being filmed!
The compere for the second night was Eliza Griswold, an American journalist and poet who has worked for many years with Seamus Murphy. My sense was that she added to the evening, rather than distracting, particularly as she clearly understands Murphy’s work. In her introduction she explained how the evening would be split into three parts – Kosovo; Afghanistan; Washington DC (as is the book) – and that in each part there would be a short Murphy video, then she would discuss a number of his photos; she would then “hand across to Polly” who would read some poems and sing some songs. Oh, and she mentioned there will be a “feature film” too!
My overall sense was about how much more richness and understanding I got when the elements being presented came together, and how open and transparent they were. For example, we saw video of Polly in Kosovo looking at remnants in a destroyed house, and of a Kosovan woman clutching some keys, followed by some photos of destruction. The discussion with Murphy explained that she was a kind of “custodian” for a number of houses that had been destroyed, and she kept the keys for these. We then moved to Polly reading Chain Of Keys, before then performing the song. This opening song was particularly interesting for me, as it is the one I heard her working on at Somerset House.
The background, explanation, and grit of the poem all definitely add to the experience of the song, for me. And Son and I were reflecting afterwards that this level of explanation of the story behind songs is something Polly is not renowned for!
I remain intrigued to know what the final album version will sound like as, as others have commented, the stripped back band of Polly, John Parish and James Johnston is even fewer than were performing in the Somerset House recordings (and remember, Chain Of Keys was a number Polly was wondering about adding a Russian gospel choir and a guitar orchestra to, at least at the Somerset House slot I went to!)
I was reflecting on PJ Harvey the artist as I drove home. I remember an interview around Let England Shake when she was talking about having a desire to visit some of the war-torn parts of the world that she was referencing in her music. That she went and did this, and did so without publicity, is incredibly brave and not without real risk. (Murphy is a seasoned war photographer and talked about the risk of taking Polly with him into certain territories; let’s not forget that she went to some very scary parts of the world.)
So what about the poetry performance? Well, for me this was the real unknown and I think, as an audience, it took us some time to “get” it. Polly was very exposed – standing on one side of the stage, reading poems with no introduction other than the title – and I thought her performance of them got stronger as the evening progressed. We didn’t get much time to absorb the words before either the next poem, or the next song, and, whilst having had one quick reads through the book, I found much of it sounding new to me and had a desire to go back and re-read and re-listen. I saw a cheeky Tweet about the “Pam Ayres bits” of the evenings – yup, for some of us of a certain age in the UK, poetry declaimed with a West Country twang has a particular (not helpful) connotation, but I thought many of the poems worked in the reading, and the accent is a part of what makes them real.
In terms of the music, on the first listen I liked it all, and loved some of it. On the evidence of the evening, there is a return to a lot of guitar (as evidenced by some of the video clips – particularly thanks to Kuk91 for two excellent examples), and Polly’s voice is very strong.
I also thought the openness I experienced in the storytelling behind the songs was reflected by an openness in Polly’s performance, compared with the LES shows. She seemed more fluid, dancey, and enjoying the performances (some great hand-clapping and high-register “yipping” at one point!) than the quite contained LES performances were. I don’t think I’ve seen James Johnston before, and felt he added greatly, particularly with his guitar work. And John Parish is a key collaborative element of this work, as with so much of what Polly has done over the years.
Finally, Polly’s outfit, as seen in some of the stills above, was a very welcome collaboration with Ann Demeulemeester again (as with LES). During the second interview section with Seamus Murphy, Polly and the band were in darkness, and I hadn’t noticed her taking off her jacket. The sleeveless, backless white top was a revelation, given the swathing corsetry of the LES outfits! Quite amazing! Oh, and her hair has been given a lot of attention too – clearly straightened her curls.
We won’t know what this album is really like until next year, but I think the tasters auger well.
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