The Garden, a PJ Harvey Discussion Site

The goal of this poll is to determine the "most beloved" new song among the fans - here's why you can only choose one track per person. You could also re-vote.

My absolute favourite is "The Ministry Of Social Affairs" - such a fantastic track, I could listen to it a few times a day and never get tired of it. I genuinely LOVE everything about it. This primitive beat and wild saxes... I don't know - I just can't keep control of myself to it. I also love how they are singing the last song refrain together (in choir), but nevertheless you can clearly hear Polly in it (it sounds oddly sexual and ominous at the same time). Percussion and these claustrophobic sounds at the beginning are doing a great job in representing the city's monotony, it feels like you're riding on the train or something like that, and when the sax kicks in - it's like the train is slowly catching on fire, and then the madness begins!! The production is simply outstanding - in a fair world, they would have won a Grammy just for this track alone.

The second place from me - "Chain Of Keys": at first I was very sceptical about album arrangement, but then I realised what these saxes and violins could sound much more elaborate and nuanced than just a guitar in a 3-piece live version.

Third place for me is a tie between "River Anacostia" and "A Line In The Sand" (just a very enjoyable listen, can't really explain; drums are beautifully done).

"The Wheel" is also a phenomenal track, but I guess I listened to it too many times between January and April, so now it's like a stand-alone track for me. )))

"The Ministry Of Defence" is a strange one with me - at first I liked it immensely, then I rarely listened to it in about 3 weeks, but now I think it's a very powerful one.

My only (but huge) complaint about "The Orange Monkey" is what you can barely make out Polly's voice when they are singing words, while this "vocal stunt" throughout the rest of it is indeed beautiful. Lyrics are written in the first person, and I really don't like how you almost can't hear the person who wrote it - her vocals are literally buried in the choir (yes, I realise it's a tipical folk music move, but nonetheless). As I wrote earlier, I don't mind a chorus in "The Ministry Of Social Affairs" (or in "Near The Memorials To Vietnam And Lincoln" for that matter), so it's purely a production complaint on this particular track.

Also, don't you just love the wild and echo-ey drums before the second verse of "Near The Memorials To Vietnam And Lincoln"? "Medicinals", "The Community Of Hope" and "Dollar, Dollar" are gorgeous and catchy as well.

Overall, the whole album is great and very impressive.

my choice is "A Line In The Sand" cried a lot listening to this

My choice is Medicinals, that is a track I like to listen to over and over.
I love the stomping melody, the saxophone part that sounds proud but blue, the way she sings the words with those little squeaks at the end, the metaphors in the lyrics, the sudden change in the outro, the way it fades and its lenght, or should I say "compactness".

But I must add that on first listens River Anacostia stood out as the masterpiece of the album, so I'm torn between those two.

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I actually can't decide.

River Anacostia is my favorite, her voice on that gives me chills.

I do constantly get The Community of Hope stuck in my head though, so that's my second favorite.

I wanted to say River Anacostia, but thats the live version playing in my head. Gonna have to go with most people here, Ministry of Social Affairs is number one for me, then Line in the Sand and Dollar Dollar/

A Line in the Sand

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Medicinal is incredible the ending seems ... Mm... not full though. with her redskin cap on bkwrds... I always want the song to keep going a lot of her stuff off this and let eng she are like that though. Community of hope is amazing but too short imo. peace can't wait to see the new it live vids and the marr performance

River Anacostia is my favourite, it evokes the vibe of old Louis Armstrong records, jazz blues, an album like "Louis and the Good Book". It speaks to the soul, it is gospel, it is a beautiful music to soothe. I dunno if she has ever mentioned Louis Armstrong but he is one of the voices that a certain dark singer from Australia has been trying to emulate for quite a while, except that when a woman takes a male singer as inspiration, it gets far more interesting. She doesn't mimick him.

There's not one song I dislike on the record. I think they're all brilliant. I voted for The Wheel. Although I've been listening to it consistently since early this year, it still gives me the feels til this day whenever I play it. I think she really succeeded on this track. The sax, the claps, the clutter, the male interjections, the imagery, the metaphors all intertwine beautifully together and create this thumping wall of sound that lifts you up before it hits you with a ton of bricks. It's one of my all time fave Polly songs now.

Seeing them live really made them come alive.

Hard to say quite yet, though my top three are definitely "A Line In The Sand", "The Orange Monkey", "The Ministry of Social Affairs"

Very excited to see her next month in New York! First time since the A Woman A Man tour.