The Garden, a PJ Harvey Discussion Site

bruise wrote:I've always appreciated her effort to let her work speak for itself and keep it open to interpretation, and this time around more than ever.

I respect that, and think it's ok that she didn't give him the interview. However, personally I would have liked to see her be way more outspoken. She's been making highly political pieces of work for the last five years, but has remained evasive about them. It's obviously strategic on her part - I just wish she had chosen a different strategy.

https://www.facebook.com/UncutMagazine/ ... =3&theater



"Out next Tuesday, though subscribers should get it it in the next few days."

bruise wrote:I've always appreciated her effort to let her work speak for itself and keep it open to interpretation, and this time around more than ever.
I don't think it was rude on her part to deny the interview to Paul Schwartzman, I find his request inappropriate and intruding.

I don't care if people think she's a bitch and certainly I don't think she is or condone this kind of attitude. I just think she's very careful when it comes to collaborate with people and I have enormous respect for her inflexibility, I guess it's part of her long-term outlook.

I second That!

She doesn't like doing interviews. Only does it when she has to promote and advertise a new album (or book). PJ hardly does any personal stuff on her Facebook and twitter accounts.
In the anti-social network anything you say can be used against you in a court of public opinion.
She did do an interview last year. More will come very soon.

ct4spinner wrote:She doesn't like doing interviews. Only does it when she has to promote and advertise a new album (or book).

For the book she did none, actually.

ct4spinner wrote:She did do an interview last year.

It was the end of 2014, so technically it's not the "last year".

ct4spinner wrote:More will come very soon.

Even this Uncut thing looks more like a review, maybe with a few new details from some yet-to-be-seen-by-mortals approved press-release, but she did none interviews for the book, and I'm affraid she's not gonna do any until the tour (or maybe even until the documentary - maybe she doesn't want to comment on the "separate parts" of the project until we see everything). Hope I'm wrong.

"Baptist Church Choir didn't know what they were about to be a part of"

First of all, I just love the title - like something terrible is happened.

"I didn't get the Walmart part. I just thought maybe some songwriter was writing some other weird song." - but they sang it anyway.

"But why does Harvey sing about it like it would've been a bad thing? <...> A Walmart means jobs." - with this upbeat melody? Obviously, in the song it's an irony (which is a POSITIVE way to look at controversial topics), but IMO it also falls under "whatever listener makes of it" category. I think, this line from "Pity for the Old Road" poem perfectly sums that up: "It's quite a normal process, but it's giving a bit of a feeling".

"If the song is about a community of hope, why did it feature images of people loitering and drinking shots of alcohol, when there are so many positive things in this area?" - translation: "We sure love the freedom of speech and stuff, but WHY SHOW ALL THE TRUTH IF YOU CAN SHOW JUST THE PRETTY SIDE INSTEAD?". Personally, I don't see anything wrong with people having a good time.

"I'm highly confused as to what the message is." - have Americans ever heard of the term "objectivity"? It's a really "weird" method when you're not choosing what to show to determine a certain outcome, but show everything that you saw. So the message is "Let the viewer decide how he feels about it", because if everyone is gonna focus only on a positive side - nothing's gonna ever change.

I'm also surprised how everyone who feels a deep need to be offended are just turning blind on certain portions of the lyrics: "at least that's what I'm told" (which is kinda already telling this story of being led thru the city) and "the school just looks like shit-hole" - apparently, those people deny what schools in this area could possibly look any better because they already achieved perfection. In my humble opinion, ANY BUILDING ON THIS EARTH COULD LOOK BETTER THAN IT IS NOW.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 39031.html

Thank you again Kuk91.

Trying to remember when was the last time something PJ made stirred so much controversy.

^ Yup. I have to wonder if the chances of her touring the new album in the states are now diminished.

On the other hand, maybe she'll bring it to DC and donate the concert proceeds to a non-profit, like CoH.

Kuk91 wrote:

ct4spinner wrote:She doesn't like doing interviews. Only does it when she has to promote and advertise a new album (or book).

For the book she did none, actually.

ct4spinner wrote:She did do an interview last year.

It was the end of 2014, so technically it's not the "last year".

ct4spinner wrote:More will come very soon.

Even this Uncut thing looks more like a review, maybe with a few new details from some yet-to-be-seen-by-mortals approved press-release, but she did none interviews for the book, and I'm affraid she's not gonna do any until the tour (or maybe even until the documentary - maybe she doesn't want to comment on the "separate parts" of the project until we see everything). Hope I'm wrong.

There was also the interview thing she did last year, after the release of the book where she sat down with the poet. Though there are no videos of it out there.

From the Amazon description for the new album:

The Hope Six Demolition Project draws from several journeys undertaken by Harvey, who spent time in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. over a four-year period. When I'm writing a song I visualise the entire scene. I can see the colours, I can tell the time of day, I can sense the mood, I can see the light changing, the shadows moving, everything in that picture. Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with , says Harvey.

DrDark wrote:<...>, says Harvey.

That's a quote from Michael Morris 2014 interview.
______________________________________________________________________________

http://www.uncut.co.uk/uncut-editors-di ... ut-2-73279



"From Kosovo to Washington DC, from Afghanistan to an old rifle range, beneath London’s former tax office… The tale of PJ Harvey’s latest album is an odyssey that takes in conflict zones and art installations, with war photographers and poets along for the ride alongside her trusted corp of musicians. “There is a great openness,” says Seamus Murphy. “You have to be open to all kinds of weirdness when you go to these places.”

In this month’s new edition of Uncut, out now, Michael Bonner pieces together the gripping genesis of Harvey’s “Hope Six Demolition Project”. He revisits an ad hoc studio deep in the bowels of Somerset House, by the Thames in London, where Harvey invited members of the public to watch the sessions from behind a glass screen. “It was a really brave step to do that,” remembers her co-producer and longtime collaborator John Parish, “because you’re accepting that people may see you fuck up in a major way. And we all did some howlingly bad things in the session.”"

Also, there's that: "Let Uncut Shake".

I've updated the BMI and ASCAP lists via a new sticky thread in Your Beautiful Pen.

The new album songs were registered with ASCAP:
http://www.thegardenforum.org/viewtopic ... 477#p22477

she also registered these 6 titles with ASCAP:
41 HOMO SAPPY BLUES 889988488
18 CLOTHES OF GRIEF 890110011
19 DANCE ON THE MOUNTAIN 890110013
73 PITY FOR THE OLD ROAD 890110021
103 THE RED ROAD 890110022
117 WHERE IS OUR CITY 890110024

So these would appear to be the B-side possibilities. It's interesting that Homo Sappy Blues appears to be the first of the new songs registered, followed by the 11 that made it onto the album and then the final 5 that didn't make the cut.

Perfect amount for a nice little EP there.