New music: PJ Harvey ? Written On the Forehead

Keyboard swells, scratchy guitars and swampy vocals ... just what will Gordon Brown make of this?

One of the more unexpected TV highlights of 2010 came when a black-clad PJ Harvey performed the title track from her forthcoming album, Let England Shake, in front of then prime minister Gordon Brown. As Brown sat soberly, Harvey ? resplendent in a feather coat ? played an autoharp over a repeated sample of the Four Lads' Istanbul (Not Constantinople), relishing the line "England's dancing days are done". Eight months later and we have another album taster, Written On the Forehead. While Harvey's last solo LP, White Chalk, stripped her distinctive take on blues rock back to ghostly piano and haunting vocals, Written On the Forehead seems fuller, opening with keyboard swells and swampy vocals before scratchy guitars and jangly percussion play over distant vocal samples.

• PJ Harvey
• Pop and rock

Michael Cragg

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/dec/01/pj-harvey-written-forehead

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