PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (extra credit)

PJ Harvey has been careful not to repeat herself with her 2011 release Let England Shake. Her lyrics about war and poverty are as dark as ever, but her delivery is notably softer, singing in a higher range than on her seminal Dry. It would be misfortune if Harvey abandoned her dark side, but rather than singing about being a woman lost, she laments an entire country. The album unfolds like a history lesson on 20^th and 21^st century English tragedies—from “soldiers falling like lumps of meat” to cynically taking failed hopes for peace to the United Nations in “The Words That Maketh Murder.” Incorporating English folk rock, early rock and dream pop, Let England Shake is more accessible than the more distorted arrangements on many of Harvey’s prior albums. When it’s broken down, Let England Shake is a collection of protest songs, drawing on influence from The Zombies and The Pogues and, most apparently, Patti Smith. Although it’s a tribute to England, Let England Shake should not be overlooked by an American audience because if you substitute England for the name of any other nation, you’ll still have a solid album about the barbarity of war.