PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying | Album Review
Looking for a switch in their musical outpourings via an improvisational style and production in hopes of truly grounding themselves in the human experience; the Bridport native Alternative Rock maven PJ Harvey returns with her first full length musical composition of new material since her 2016 immersion of innate pessimism, politics and misanthropy on The Hope Six Demolition Project.
Her tenth and latest studio album release I Inside the Old Year Dying, presents itself as quite a sonic conundrum when informed of its origins alluding to both extemporisation and the inner workings of their narrative length poem Orlam, which was released back in late April of last year.
In diving head first in to the album, a familiar thread woven throughout IITOYD’s runtime, is the essence of mysticism being used as an augmentation device which we’re sure was meant to inspire a wave of fascination, yet left us somewhat stuck in an otherworldly hap hazard and ostentatious lofi charade. Such experimental sonic divergence in Post-Punk and Indie circles is a venture many are drawn to out of sheer curiosity as well as feel confident in doing due to their exquisite command of their craft, yet the album seems to possess no such foundation for the listener to follow intently, leading to very little lucidity and substance being able to be appreciated.
As we journeyed further into the album, this listener thought surely its sonic mastery should feel effortless in its endeavour of allowing its audience to get lost in its complex arrangement, however such phenomenon failed to make itself known; at times throughout its run time, it had a distinct tendency of fatiguing us or straight up irritating us with some of its more eclectic inclusions to the overall soundtrack.
Improvement upon the appeal of this exploration came in the form of possibly the only track we would return for a repeat listen of, which was ‘I Inside the Old I Dying’. The track’s appeal and intrigue seems to hang on what we believe was the mission statement of IITOYD, due to the interesting mesh of folk and electronica but also the delivery of affectations which straddled a duality between the purposely fragile and the effortlessly creepy. In doing so, it reminded one of the witch from Hansel and Gretel in the midst of her enticement phase in order to lure them into her gingerbread house.
“A plethora of elements which felt like the audible equivalent of curdled milk”
While familiar ringing’s of alternative juggernauts came to mind while exploring IITOYD, such as ‘Cornflake Girl’ era Tori Amos, early Florence + The Machine vibes as well as the fragile beauty of Evermore & FolkloreTaylor Swift, it also conjured images of Greta Van Fleet if they were on hypnotic-sedatives in the middle of forest clearing. Such images and reminiscences were fleeting yet welcomed, especially when faced with a plethora of elements which felt like the audible equivalent of curdled milk.
As much as IITOYD was born out of a desire to create live experimental synergy, it’s dithering between over and under stimulation can leave you utterly bemused and pondering whether you’ve just been released from a dissociative like state. With a vocal delivery reminiscent of a quite frankly strident in places Electro-Folk extended iteration of Adriano Celentano’s ‘Prisencolinsinaciusol’, farmyard ambience meshed together with a precarious grasp of much coveted harrowing undertones, leaves this latest offering from PJ Harvey a rather discombobulated promise of uncompromising grandiloquence. With such wasted potential and promise of greatness on IITOYD, considering the history of this fascinating artist, this exploration into the fictionalised childlike form of a modern Grimm-esque tale, is an utterly disappointing creation in such a profound way.
