PJ Harvey
Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, WA
Tuesday, March 4th
As a pre-eminent songwriter, musician and artist, PJ Harvey has always unveiled new and different shades of herself at every turn. It seems hard to believe that her last Australian tour was in early 2017 in support of her ninth album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, a visit that saw her perform with a 10-piece band through shows that were ornately exquisite.
Harvey’s return comes off the back of her most recent album, 2023’s I of the Old Year Dying, an apparently difficult album to make not by circumstance alone but more the toil of creative realisation and the satisfaction required within. It was spawned from a major poem that Harvey published in 2022 called “Orlam”, written in Dorset dialect about a young girl on the verge of the mature world.
The minimally adorned stage was backgrounded by twigs and branches, the soundtrack over the PA not songs but instead the sounds of insects, animals, and the forest. It was all very pastoral. Harvey took to centre stage standing still yet boldly commanding as she opened the full I Inside The Old Year Dying album cycle with “Prayer at the Gate” in her lilting high register, wearing a white coloured smock adorned in black leaves.
As the forest seemed to embrace her, songs such as “Seem an I” saw Harvey take a more performative outlook, dancing as her voice sailed through and beyond King’s Park’s treelined landscape, as the resident ducks came out of their hedge to have a closer look at the left of stage.
Harvey’s album is quiet and thoughtful, and while the live performance sharpened the edges, it was still pleasingly gentle. Longtime fans know the adventure is not always what they will expect, but small things such as Harvey strapping on an electric guitar were met by hoots and hollers by those wanting more of the energy of yore. It would come.
Meanwhile, the themes were fascinatingly oblique, the very English-ness of the ethereal fantasy world peppered by Elvis Presley references – the lilting brood of “Lwonesome Tonight” and “A Child’s Question, August” urged one to ‘Love me tender, tender love’.
Harvey immediately left the stage as her band members came to the front to sing “The Colour of the Earth” a traditionally constructed folk ballad from 2011’s Let England Shake album. She soon returned in a fitted white dress with another slice of that album, “The Glorious Land”, controlling proceedings with grace as she played guitar, soon swapping that over for the autoharp on “The Words That Maketh”.
Credit: Duncan Barnes
Those clambering for the dynamic energy of old were rewarded with plenty of rock attitude (and then some) during “50ft Queenie”, before longtime collaborator John Parrish joined her for the 2009 duet, “Black Hearted Love”. From the gentler sounds of “The Garden and “The Desperate Kingdom of Love”, Harvey went from her knees to her feet, her arms reaching to the heavens, her hands outstretched to the audience, beseeching them to step further into the forest.
And they did.
Early-mid ‘90s favourites “Mansized”, “Dress”, and “Downsized” rounded out the back end of the concert, showcasing what a major run of excellence Harvey’s entire career has been. There was no mention of WA mining magnates or US politics – she was all inside her art. Harvey’s only spoken words were a gracious thank you to her band, the crowd, and the city.
The artist was resolutely in charge at all times, and as ever the crowd learned and benefited accordingly.
Find out more information about PJ Harvey’s Australian tour here.
