Let England Shake
(Vagrant)

Like many artists, PJ Harvey has said she never wants to repeat herself, but unlike many artists, PJ Harvey is not full of shit. The result on her latest album, Let England Shake, isn't close to anything she's done before, and it's probably unlike anything you've heard before. Harvey's 10th full-length—much of it written on autoharps, some of which were tuned to minor keys—is often brisk, at times unsettling, and always stunning. Lyrics steeped in imagery of early-20th-century warfare and nationalism set the tone, but don't fret: This is not a political record. "With so many protest songs, I feel like I'm being preached to," Harvey told Andrew Marr on his BBC Sunday-morning politics show last April while discussing Let England Shake. "I don't feel qualified to sing from a political standpoint, because unless I knew every single aspect of what's going on, I can't speak about it."

Her restraint is our reward, but you'll still find yourself tapping your foot to lines like "I've seen soldiers fall like lumps of meat" and the gloomy call-and-response "And what is the glorious fruit of our land?/The fruit is deformed children," because the attending melodies and rhythms are that striking. Samples—an off-timed trumpeting of reveille ("The Glorious Land"), Niney the Observer's "Blood and Fire" ("Written on the Forehead")—float in and out of the wash and seem to make perfect sense.

Harvey's vocals are more varied and accomplished than ever. On "On Battleship Hill," they ring out like some glorious angel descending from the heavens. Then turn to "All & Everyone," and she echoes like a mournful and defiant victim of a war-torn land. And when she sings, "Goddamn Europeans/Take me back to beau-ti-ful England/And the gray, damp filthiness of ages/Fog rolling down behind the mountains/And on the graveyards/And dead sea captains" on "The Last Living Rose"—a standout among standouts—you can't help wanting to be there, too. Shake isn't as forceful as past PJ albums, but it's every bit as powerful.