According to definition on this site, singer-songwriter music is music that is “Heavily focused on lyrics and songwriting, with musical accompaniment tending to take lower precedence.” So one could imagine my shock when the first track I heard from PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love was a sinister, slow building, bluesy rocker. I was so sure the music was not going to be that interesting compared to the lyricism given Harvey’s reputation as a renowned singer-songwriter. This is only the beginning of how Bring You refuses to be pinned down.
In contrast to the opener, the very following track “Meet Ze Monsta” has no buildup. It immediately strikes you with lumbering guitars that are just a tad industrial. It’s like you’re watching a new experimental indie rock act at a downstairs smoke filled bar, intense but groovy. A contrast between 2 tracks turns into eclecticism of sonic ideas as the album continues. Between the lo-fi, underwater sounding bass on “Working For The Man”, or the chord driven, almost lonely atmosphere on “Teclo”. The album has so many different ideas to the point where each song feels almost completely different, which keeps it interesting throughout.
The point on the album where I would argue it sounds and feels the most singer-songwriter is “Send His Love To Me”. It has a simple acoustic guitar progression throughout and Harvey is at the forefront. It’s a beautiful track with strings that come in about 2 minutes in and get more prominent throughout the track until they carry the melody for the fade-out.
So we’ve established that this isn’t exclusively a singer-songwriter album due to the eclectic sonic palette, but it still is partially one, so the lyricism is still important. The good news is, good lyricism it is. Like many acclaimed singer-songwriters before her, the lyricism she uses is a little vague and abstract. The title track for example only has 4 short lines in the final verse, and it’s barely the shortest verse. The whole track delves well into the desperation for lost love, with Harvey explaining the lengths she’d go to get it back. The building of the track mentioned earlier sonically really comes together with the writing as well with that third verse, where Harvey literally says she’d lay with the devil for her love back. I will say there is no major concept on the album but she uses the love theme in interesting ways. My favorite of which would be “I Think I’m A Mother”. It very subtly delves into the security that comes with a mother that loves you. It’s sweet in a way.
Before ending this review I would like to mention one more key factor to my enjoyment of this record. This album sounds far weirder than I expected it to. All the interesting sounds this albums employs combined with the bluesy elements reminds me so much of one of my favorite artists, Tom Waits. A couple of the tracks here would easily fit on Rain Dogs or Bone Machine.This confused me until I did my homework and realized that on the album, there are several lyrical references to experimental rock pioneer, Captain Beefheart, who most definitely had influence on Waits as well. It turns out Harvey is a huge Beefheart fan. This gave me a major insight as to why the album is as sonically out there as it is.
To Bring You My Love is far more than your standard singer-songwriter record. It is a sonically interesting run through Harvey’s mindsets about love and longing for it. The album refuses to be anything but interesting and for that I ended up loving it. Like the greats before her including Captain Beefheart, PJ Harvey and her To Bring You My Love record, refuse to be pinned down to one sound.
9/10
