Saturday, August 13, 2011

8/14/2011- PJ Harvey- Good Fortune (2000)

BACKGROUND:

This is the song that started my obsession with PJ Harvey. If unfamiliar, she started the class of out of the box female artists like Tori Amos and Bjork. Check out the most amazing magazine cover from British music magazine Q:



Polly Jean Harvey just released her latest album, Let England Shake, earlier this year to the warmest reception an album of hers has recieved since 2000's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, which is her most accessible and one of her biggest successes. An English artist writing a song about her love for New York eerily released a year before 9/11. There are conspiracy theories that This Mess We're In, the track she did with Thom Yorke for the album, predicts the attacks.

THE SONG ITSELF:

Harvey at her most accessible. She's known to be a challenging artist with each concurring album sounding nothing like her last. The closest thing to a pop song she's ever done, and the most appropriate starting point for her expansive catalog. It's notable that this is one of her happier songs, considering most of her songs, most notably her earlier work, is filled with angst and unsatisfaction. (And I feel like some bird of paradise/ My bad fortune slipping away/ And I feel the innocence of a child/ Everybody's got something good to say)

Also check out this great AV Club article about her:

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